f. 


A 


^he  Quarterly  Journal.^ 


Volume  b 


APRIL,  1913 


“Don  Quixote” — a Book* 

Henry  Lampart  LeDaum,  t 
Head  of  the  Department  of  Romance  Languages, 
University  of  North  Dakota 


To  Henry  LeDaum,  Jr., 
and  his  wondering  friends, 
Dapple  and  Rocinante. 


‘A  son  nom  il  grandit  encor 


-Edmond  Rostand?- 


“Mientras  se  duerme  todos  son  iguales”  . . . ^ 

Don  Quixote,  Vol.  IL,  Chap.  XLIII. 

I 


Don  QUIXOTE”  is  the  book  of  lives,  and  the  epitome  of 
a race.  It  justifies  the  concern  of  thinking  men  because  it 
embodies  (i)  a criticism  of  human  nature  as  it  is,  helas,  and  (2)  a 
satire  on  society — a society  whose  outworn  idealism  maddens  men 
to  this  day. 

It  is  a book  new-armed  with  wholesome  wit  and  good-natured 
farce  to  meet  the  old  argument  of  force  and  the  masque  of  authority, 
the  smirk  of  intolerance  and  the  jade  of  ignorance.  It  pleads  with 


Number  3 


♦ The  Ingrenious  Gentleman — Don  Quixote  de  la  Mancha — of  Miguel  de 
Cervantes  Saavedra;  translated  with  introduction,  notes,  and  appendices, 
by  J.  Ormsby.  There  is  an  American  edition  of  this  celebrated  transla- 
ion  (given  to  England  in  1885),  from  the  press  of  Thomas  J,  Crowell 
both  parts  in  one  volume.  Professor  Ormsby’s,  all  in  all,  is  the 
lished  “Don  Quixote”  in  print. 

9-nuscript  of  this  article  was  submitted  by  Professor  LeDaum 
iays  before  he  was  taken  ill.  He  died  before  it  reached  the 
While  he  went  over  it  with  me  with  considerable  care  at  the 
submission,  and  while  I have  been  very  careful  to  respect  his 
wish,  it  may,  nevertheless,  lack  some  of  those  “finishing  touches” 
a discriminating  author  likes  to  bestow  upon  such  a piece  of  work 
en  seen  in  the  “proof.” — (Editor.) 

1.  Le  Contrebandier,  stanza  XXII  of  a remarkable  poem  from  Les 
usardises  (1887-1893):  New  edition,  pp.  274-292.  Charpentier  et  Fas- 
elles,  Paris,  1911. 

t While  we  sleep,  as  luck  would  have  it,  we  are  all  equal. — Proverb 
of  Ormsby’s  collection. — Appendix  I. 


Copyright,  1913,  University  of  North  Dakota. 


■JtvIVtRSITY  OF 
ILUNUIS  LIBRARY 
M UKBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


igg  The  Quarterly  Journal 

men — ungrateful  task — to  divest  themselves  of  pretense  and  tyranny, 
of  prejudice  and  perversity.  Its  humanitarian  motives,  free  from 
sarcasm  or  condescension,  captivate  and  fascinate.  America  is  much 
in  need  of  its  purging  satire ; and,  lest  we  forget,  it  is  here  considered 
anew  and  without  apology.  So  much  has  been  said  regarding  “Don 
Quixote,”  such  a wealth  of  personal  opinion  lavished  on  Cervantes, 
and  so  many  great  scholars  have  honored  this  dear  old  classic  that 
little  more  than  opportune  restatement  is  left  the  new-comer. 

It  occurs  to  many  after  years  of  companionship  with  “Don 
f Quixote”  that  this  book  was  written  under  the  greatest  political  and 
i social  difficulties.  It  was ; and  their  solution  must  be  sought  in  his- 
tory as  well  as  in  the  matchless  fable  which  embodies  or  conceals 
Cervantes’  ideas.  They  find  that  this  seditious  man  escaped  from 
I the  fangs  of  the  Inquisition.  He  did ; and  the  good  Archbishop  of 
Toledo  must  have  trembled  at  the  audacity  of  his  protege!  They 
wonder  that  Spain  tolerated  the  book,  its  treasonable  utterance  and 
bold  symbolism!  Why?  Was  the  prophet  then  not  understood  in 
his  own  country  and  were  Spaniards  mystified  or  lost  in  conjectures  ? 
Neither!  Nor  did  the  message  of  Cervantes  go  astray.  It  could 
not.  The  world  was  ready  for  it.  Consider  how,  in  course  of  time, 
the  natural  man,  his  social  rights,  and  his  personal  freedom,  hai 
been  abanboned  or  bartered  for  a mess  of  pottage,  culture,  or  impos- 
ture! I marvel  not  at  the  exceeding  cunning  and  dangerous  artifice^ 
required  to  bring  him  back  to  nature  and  reason.  He  bows  to  so 
many  superstitions,  obscures  his  vision  with  so  many  idols,  pays  tri-  i 
bute  to  so  many  subtle  middle  men,  and  stands  inert  against  so  much  I 
tradition:  he  will  long  need  craft  or  native  sagacity  to  find  his  way  t 
out  of  the  toils.  Some  live  to  learn  that  our  institutional  claptrap 
does  not  make  a man,  and  often  obliterates  his  humanity;  others, 
that  to  live  by  profession,  to  carry  out  an  ideal  rigorously,  to  educace 
away  from  reality,  is  to  educate  falsely,  is  to  neutralize  the  springs 
of  action,  is  Quixotic,  is  fatal ! The  ancient,  vested  interests  engen- 
dered fear  of  progress;  will  free  thought  and  free  speech,  free  in- 
quiry and  free  education,  free  superstitions,  free  heresies,  make  men 
cruel  cowards  still?  History  will  tell.  It  repeats  itself  We  are^ 
ever  confronted  by  the  same  problems ; under  a new  mask  or  under 
the  old,  the  same  extortioners  and  executioners  haunt  the  humai^ 
race.  In  their  effort  to  apprehend  the  real  difficulty,  men  tilt  afl 
^ many  windmills — ^will  anyone  say  that  the  tilting  of  Don  QuixoteB 
was  profitless,  because  forsooth  windmills  stood  immovable  and  selfB 
complacent,  like  tradition  or  conservatism?  I do  not  say  that  “Doij|| 


199 


Don  Quixote — A Book 

Quixote”  may  not  be  enjoyed  or  understood  without  historical  refer- 
ence; it  needs  little  or  none.  I wish  to  make  it  clear,  however, 
that  this  plain-spoken  book  appeared  in  times  so  difficult  for  a plain- 
speaking  writer  that  its  apparent  conformity  with  an  impossible  state 
of  affairs  is  the  wonder  of  modern  censorship.^  “Great  prudence 
was  required  to  dissemble  the  joy  I felt,”  says  Cervantes,  where  he 
pretends^  that  “Don  Quixote”  is  a translation  of  some  old  leaves 
written  in  Arabic.  “A  boy  was  offering  them  for  sale  to  a peddler; 
and  when,  with  the  aid  of  a Morisco,  I had  made  out  the  title  I 
bought  the  whole  bundle  for  half  a penny.”  It  was  Cid  Hamet 
Benegeli’s  mirific  tale!  This  naive  subterfuge  long  gave  Cervantes* 
literary  offspring  a plausible  and  legitimate  paternity.  Is  it  not  de- 
lightful ? 

But  I am  going  ahead  of  my  story.  I must  here  tell  something 
of  the  plan  followed  in  these  pages: — 

My  purpose  is  to  awaken  the  interest  of  American  students  in 
a worthy  modern  classic  produced  in  the  days  of  Spain’s  greatness. 
No  one,  I trust,  will  think  it  amiss,  on  the  eve  of  a new  Spain  and 
of  “Pan-America,”  to  addle  our  commercialism  with  a bit  of  litera- 
ture 1 

Without  pursuing  this  great  empire  with  the  three-fold  for- 
mality of  a learned  dissertation,  I,  nevertheless,  do  the  three  things 
usually  done  in  the  study  of  a great  work,  and  each  in  its  own  time 
and  need:  I describe  the  subject;  I explain  the  subject;  and  I criti- 
cize the  subject;  and  this,  that  I may  fulfill,  like  other  writers,  “the 
laws  of  all  progress  and  of  all  intellectual  activity.”^ 

“Don  Quixote”  is  a world  concern  altho  the  Spaniards  of  Cer- 
vantes’ day  knew  it  as  little  as  the  philistines  of  our  own.  He  might 
have  known,  tho,  had  his  institutions  found  “more  method  to  express 
him  through”  and  “less  system  to  adapt  him  to,” — or  like  crudities 
of  modern  pedagogy.  We  hear  much,  in  this  age  of  relative  insignif- 
icance, of  absolute  values  (as  if  society  were  static)  and  of  religious 


2.  That  Cervantes’  book  was  closely  scrutinized  by  the  Inquisition  may 
be  inferred  from  the  “Aprobaciones” — one  to  the  first  volume,  and  three 
to  the  second.  These  with  the  “tasas,”  the  certification  of  copy,  and  the 
kingr’s  permit  to  print,  constitute  the  principal  documents  relating  to  the 
censorship  of  “Don  Quixote.”  Note  that  the  “Aprobaciones”  speak  of 
the  moral  import  of  Cervantes’  book,  and  praise  this,  saying  nothing  of 
the  philosophical  aspect  of  the  work.  Cf.  The  David  Nutt  edition  of  “Don 
Quixote” — Preliminaries  to  Vols.  I and  II.  Cf.  Also  the  gossip  of  the 
censorship  in  Aribau,  in  Vol.  1 of  the  Rivadeneyra  Library, — Vida  de  Cer- 
vantes, Obras,  etc. 

3.  — “Mucha  discrecion  fu6  menester  para  disimular  el  contento  que 
recibi  cuando  llego  a mis  oidos  el  titulo  del  libro,  y salteS,ndosele  al 
sedera,  compr6  al  muchacho  todos  los  papeles  y cartapacios  por  medio 
real.” — “Don  Quixote,”  Vol.  L,  Ch.  IX. 

4.  George  Brandes,  “On  Reading,”  P.  21.  Duffield  & Co.,  N.  Y.,  1906. 


200 


The  Quarterly  Journal 


error  (as  if  the  past  only  were  able  to  think).  Conduct  (which  needs 
experience)  has  been  too  long  conditioned  by  the  ruts  of  prophetic 
days.  Limitation,  ignorance,  profession  and  protection  had  their 
‘ place  in  the  economy  of  Spanish  life,  but  they  were  a poor  substitute 
for  character;  and  organization,  as  a substitute  for  conduct,  was  the 
last  refuge  of  an  institution  morally  dead. 

Don  Quixote  wrecks  his  life  between  character  and  conduct; 
his  life  is  a detailed  confession,  with  startling  revelations,  of  misfits 
and  makeshifts — disillusions  and  defeats,  in  a world — not  of  his  pro- 
fession! Character  had  been  in  the  making  for  ages  with  seeming 
small  concern  for  conduct.  Since  then,  character  has  taken  on  in- 
stitutional stamp ; but,  from  the  viewpoint  of  educational  cost,  has 
improved  too  little  or  changed  too  slowly  to  warrant  institutional 
monopoly.  Life  must  face  society,  not  scholastic  abstractions;  and 
society  must  afford  new  channels  for  individual  development  and 
personal  expression.  A new  vision — free  from  ridicule,  is  needed  in 
an  age  of  tradition  and  limitation, — the  solemn  political  and  theo- 
logical pronouncements  of  the  hour  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
But  this  is  an  essay  on  “Don  Quixote” — the  book.  So  I pass  in- 
continent a number  of  philosophical  considerations, — pressing  upon 
us,  as  Cervantes  would  say. 

My  “Don  Quixote”  is  not  a regular  vademecum,  tho  it  bristle 
with  apostil  and  commentary.  It  is  a cicerone — opinionated  and  ca- 
pricious, strong  with  the  conceit  of  new  times  and  the  egotism  of 
new  life.  This  erratic  creature  of  dilletantism  and  eclecticism  shows 
at  times  his  lack  of  charity  for  an  older  art  and  his  prejudice  for  a 
newer  craft.  Yet,  my  cicerone  is  unobtrusive  and  unpedantic,  ex- 
cept by  the  contraries  of  fortune;  and,  he  exercises  independence 
(when  he  does)  according  to  his  own  competency  on  matters  under 
consideration.  He  is  a bit  too  full,  I fear,  of  the  modern  self,  but 
respectful  withal  in  the  presence  of  an  old  master.  But  neither 
vademecum  nor  cicerone, — it  is  a deplorable  fact,  has  an  adequate 
sense  of  the  other’s  humor;  and,  as  with  the  principals  in  the  book 
we  are  about  to  study,  it  is  the  wary  champion  of  both  who  carries 
off  the  prize.  My  “Don  Quixote”  is  intended  to  reassure: — in  the 

(silence  of  great  thoughts,  and  in  loneliness  of  single  exploration, 

^ its  thoughtless  chatter  may  even  prove  companionable! 

* * * 


Don  Quixote — A Book 


201 


“Buen  natural  tienes,  sin  el  cual  no  hay  sciencia  que  valga. 
...”  Don  Quixote,  Vol.  II,  Ch.  XLIII. 

II. 

“DON  QUIXOTE”  is  one  of  the  great  books  of  the  world  and 
the  greatest  in  Spanish  Literature.  It  is  classed  among  the  supreme 
works  of  the  imagination  and  ranked  high  in  human  intelligence. 
Altho  not  in  epic  form,  it  is  a national  literary  monument  of  heroic 
proportions  and  of  great  human  interest.  It  is  a simple  and  whole- 
some book,  philosophical  rather  than  speculative,  and  so  wise  as  to 
be  undogmatic  in  tone.  Yet  it  is  seldom  read  outside  of  Spain  by 
mature  readers;  its  episodic  nature,  I take  it,  is  exploited  so  readily 
for  the  benefit  of  children,  that  it  somehow  prejudices  the  adult.  We 
know  Don  Quixote  as  a freak  acquaintance  of  our  youth;  we  sus- 
pect something  of  him  in  our  young  human  nature,  even  in  our  mock- 
heroic  early  manhood,  and  we  often  resolve  to  renew  our  acquain- 
tance with  him ; but  lack  of  time,  interest,  or  energy  hinder.  Should 
we  not  first  read  the  Hebrew  Bible  and  the  Greek  Testament? 
Perhaps;  altho  few  books,  Brandes  thinks,  even  if  read  in  the  light 
of  our  own  day,  prove  so  conclusively  as  these  that  the  bulk  of  man- 
kind cannot  read  at  all.  » But  we  have  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  and 
the  Aeneid,  the  Divine  Comedy  and  Paradise  Lost;  we  have  Ariosto 
and  Tasso,  and  many  more  of  these  man-made  books,  divinized  and 
then  shelved.  These  should  be  read  too  if  we  would  understand  the 
genealogy  of  books,  and  appreciate  the  source  of  great  things  in  Hugo, 
Tennyson,  and  others  of  our  modern  writers.  In  this  reading  age 
so  full  of  the  present,  we  have  but  little  time  for  the  old  masters. 
Outside  of  music  and  painting,  this  cult  of  the  masters  has  gone 
out  of  fashion.  I venture,  nonetheless,  to  call  your  attention  to  one 
of  these.  His  book  is  a treasure.  It  will  pay  you  to  bring  to  it 
your  rare  leisure  and  allegiance,  altho  much  of  it  may  seem  unworthy 
and  unintelligible  “stuff.”  Be  persistent!  . . . The  richest 

ores  lie  deep  within  the  earth.  They  are  often  wedded  to  stubborn 
and  worthless  rock!  It  is  the  way  of  nature.  A nameless  brook 
flows  immaculate  between  mud  banks;  its  music  springs  from  sense- 
less stones!  Nature,  with  all  its  imperfections,  is  nature  still,  and  ^ 
the  works  of  man  are  man’s  work  for  all  that.  All  the  truth  is  not 
in  them;  far  from  it — and  many  of  them  are  valued  only  for  the 
occasional  gleams  that  coax  the  miner  and  give  him  visions  of  greater 
things. 


202  The  Quartely  Journal 

“Don  Quixote”  is  among  the  rare  books  which  have  put  in  a 
/ word  of  protest  in  subtle  mockery  of  the  petty  world  of  artifice  and 
pious  fraud  contrived  for  us  since  the  dawn  of  the  Christian  Era. 
But,  even  before,  man  had  striven  to  substitute  his  own  devised 
world  for  that  of  nature;  to  crown  nature  with  a &upernatural  fic- 
tion; to  discount  human  nature  to  the  credit  of  a hypothetical,  di- 
vine nature;  to  dwarf  men  into  ridiculous  lunatics,  blindly  cursing 
the  realities  of  life,  and  of  mother  earth.  Where  errors  have  so 
long  held  sway  as  in  Spain,  the  great  emancipating  book  we  are 
about  to  study  castigates  too  unerringly  to  be  despised  or  allowed  to 
perish  from  the  earth.  Take  Don  Quixote  for  health  of  mind  and 
body;  its  wholesome  humor  invigorates,  its  laughter  is  contagious, 
iits  satire,  ligitimate.  Don  Quixote,  says  the  book,  was  a bold  Knight 
of  La  Mancha;  and  the  discerning  hero  of  an  immortal  wind-mill 
fight!  His  fame  has  well-nigh  eclipsed  the  name  of  its  author, 
Cervantes,  real  hero  of  Lepanto,  and  dreaded  captive  of  Turkish 
pirates.  He  so  singularly  endowed  this  creature  of  his  imagination, 
that  Don  Quixote  has,  if  not  outlived,  at  least  over-shadowed  its 
paternity.  The  chivalrous  knight  still  errs  undisputed  over  the  wilds 
of  La  Mancha,  and  his  record  of  deeds  is  yet  the  golden  book  of 
Spanish  Romance.  It  was  begun,  I am  sure,  in  a fit  of  fine  good 
humor,  with  no  malice  aforethought,  only  remotely  imbued  with 
poetic  frenzy  or  local  fanaticism,  and  when  much  of  life’s  fitful 
fever  had  already  mellowed  its  author.  Here  is  a book,  which  in 
appearance  is  so  peace-abounding,  so  unmindful  of  the  tumult  of 
crashing  empires,  so  blind  to  general  human  agony,  as  to  baffle  the 
modern  reader  regarding  its  ultimate  purpose.  Its  deliberate  self- 
control,  enticing  lengths,  and  Spanish  gravity,  are  in  the  light  of 
history,  exasperating:  it  disconcerts  even  the  eager  student,  who  finds 
in  it  only  evident  meaning,  reality,  and  common-places.  Yet,  it  was 
conceived  in  the  days  of  Spain’s  greatness,  and  completed  amid  the 
most  ominous  signs  of  its  mighty  fall  to  death  and  oblivion.  I am 
referring  to  the  XVIth  century.®  Charles  V.  (1500-1558),  King  of 
Spain,  Emperor  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  and  Lord  of  the 
Americas  . . . had  brought  his  eventful  reign  to  a close,  em- 

bittered and  disgusted  with  the  Dutch  in  particular,  for  rejecting 
the  blessings  of  his  divine  rule.  He  had  tried  hard  to  bring  about 
religious  unity  with  the  help  of  the  state,  and  had  failed  as  con- 

5.  Concerning  this  eventful  epoch,  cf.  Martin,  A.  S.,  “Hume’s  The  Span- 
ish People — Their  Origin,  Growth,  and  Influence,”  with  summaries  after 
each  chapter;  Index  and  Bibliography;  D.  Appleton  & Co,,  N.  Y.,  1909. 
The  best  short  history  of  Spain  written;  it  abounds  in  significant  chapters. 


203 


Don  Quixote — A Book 

spicuously  as  France  in  the  next  century  would  fail  to  bring  about 
political  unity  with  the  help  of  the  church.  It  was  only  despotism 
in  churchly  guise  now  waging  a bitter  war  for  world  sway  and  re- 
incarnation. Philip  II  (1527-1598)  succeeded  quite  as  little  in  the 
aims  and  ambitions  of  his  father.  His  plan  to  put  all  Europe  under 
the  yoke  of  Catholic  Rome  failed  signally  in  spite  of  paternal  in- 
struction, imperial  resources,  threats  and  force.  He  died  like  Charles 
V,  self-immured  and  sulking.  He  had  found  it  impossible,  im- 
profitable  and  inglorious  to  make  Christians  out  of  the  English  as  his  ^ 
august  father  out  of  the  Dutch.  Nor  could  Philip  III  (1598-1624), 
with  his  reign  “a  la  Louis  XV”  of  France,  arrest  the  downward 
trend  of  the  mighty  empire,  and  his  death  witnessed  its  passing  from 
the  great  nations  of  the  earth.  You  would  have  thought  Cervantes, 
Spaniards,  and  other  Europeans,  would  have  observed  and  learned 
the  lesson  of  XVIth  century  Spain,  but  not  so;  where  old  time 
royalty  and  ecclesiastics  govern,  history  repeats  itself  with  singular 
regularity  and  fatality.  Oriental  despotism  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
Christian  church;  it  ruled  thru  the  “Holy  Inquisition,”®  and  Luther 
(1483-1546),  had  only  just  proclaimed  the  individual  conscience  and 
the  “protesting”  reason.  And  this  protesting  reason,  in  so  far  as 
superstition  is  compatible  with  reason,  had  not  as  yet  so  effectively 
murmured  against  medieval  Rome! 

Cervantes  was  born  in  1547;  he  had  thus  lived  .tjiru  the  event- 
ful times  if  this  great  century  when  he  died  in  169,4. 

Shakespeare’s  death.  Nor  did  he  live  far  from  the  center  of  things: 
Alcala  de  Henares,  his  birthplace,  is  only  a few  miles  northeast  of 
Madrid  on  the  highway  to  Saragossa  and  Barcelona.  — He  must 
have  heard  all  about  him  ^the  glorious  tales  of  the  conquistadors, 
their  discoveries  in  the  New  World,  their  picturesque  adventures, 
and  their  deeds  in  all  the  Americas.  He  must  have  seen  the  soldiers 
of  Charles  and  Philip  march  away,  each  an  hidalgo,  a Caballero,  a 
matamore  or  a conquistador,  to  the  subjugation  of  the  Heathen,  the 
Jew,  the  Moslem,  to  exterminate  the  protestant  Dutch,  the  Moor, 
or  the  American  Indian,  or  escort  suspect  fellow  Christians  to  the 


6.  Cf.  Henry  Charles  Lea,  LL.D.:  History  of  the  Inquisition  of  Spain; 

4 vols. ; only  volume  1 and  2 have  appeared.  Macmillans,  N,  Y„  1906. 
This  voluminous,  non-controversial  writer  is  perhaps  the  most  complete 
on  the  “Inqisition.”  Among  his  eight  great  works,  the  History  of  the 
Inquisition  of  the  Middle  Ages,  3 vols.,  is  the  best  known;  Harper’s  & 
Brothers,  N.  T.,  1887.  Aside  from  these  standard  works.  Dr.  Lea  has 
given:  The  Moriscoes;  Studies  in  Church  History;  History  of  Auricular 
Confession;  Indulgences  in  Latin  Church;  a Historical  Sketch  of  Sacer- 
dotal Celibacy;  Superstition  and  Force,  etc. 


204  The  Quarterly  Journal 

quemaderos,  to  be  burned  alive.*^  Thru  the  Holy  Inquisition,  its 
Ximenes,  Albas*  and  Torquemados,  the  flames  of  the  church  were 
richly  fed  in  those  good  days  of  religious  supremacy.  It  was  a 
popular  delight;  eager  spectators  flocked  hither  from  the  ends  of 
the  Spanish  realm.  The  victims,  clothed  in  the  sambenito — a yellow 
shroud  of  infamy,  were  to  be  burned,  strangled,  or  otherwise  executed 
in  public.  This  wholesale  persecution  by  their  Christian  majesties 
reached  apalling  figures.  Ward^  quoting  Galton,  says:  “The  Spanish 
nation  was  drained  of  its  brains  at  the  rate  of  looo  persons  annually, 
for  the  three  centuries  between  1471  and  1781.  . . .”  The  act- 

ual data  during  those  300  years  are  32,000  burned  alive,  17,000 
burned  in  effigy,  and  291,000  condemned  to  various  terms  of  im- 
prisonment, and  other  penalties.  But  Clericalism  is  heir  to  all  that 
dies  in  Spain.  The  church  lives  by  the  time-honored  conspiracy  of 
its  buried  hosts.  And  its  thrift  and  enterprise  in  Spain  are  here 
shown  to  give  the  alert  reader  a clearer  sense  of  the  role  about  to 
be  played  by  “Sancho  Panza”  in  the  affairs  of  men.  These  figures 
do  not  represent  the  drain  on  society  by  the  pacific  (and  laudable) 
methods  of  the  church.  It  bespoke  fair  daughter  and  gentle  son  for 
its  vast  organization  until  it  strained  the  family  without  economic 
returns  and  bred  its  best  strain  to  a barren  social  issue.  And  Spain 
responded  until  the  nation  was  deprived  of  sociable  contact  with 
these  choice  members  of  its  race  and  the  race  was  denied  their  better 
qualities  in  the  breeding  strain  of  the  nation.  It  was  this  “holy” 
regime  which  enslaved  South  America,  which  despoiled  Mexico, 
which  led  to  the  murder  of  i,2CX),0C)0  (twelve  hundred  thousand) 
harmless  Indians  in  Cuba,  Jamaica,  and  St.  Domingo,”  hanging 
them  by  thirteens  in  honor  of  a merry  thirteenth  apostle.^®  Such 
figures  can  be  matched  only  in  the  very  Christian  France  of  the  next 
century  when  from  the  St.  Bartholomew  to  the  close  of  Louis  XIV’s 
reign,  300,000  or  400,000  Protestants  perished  in  prison,  at  the 
galleys,  in  their  attempts  to  escape,  or  on  the  scaffold;  and  an  equal 
number  emigrated.  Italy  was  also  frightfully  persecuted  at  an 
earlier  date.  Portugal,  too,  was  long  aflame  with  the  fires  of  the 


7.  For  this  relig-ious  mania  of  public  stake-burning  in  the  Spanish 
nation  and  in  its  possessions, — Mexico,  etc., — cf.  Hume,  Op.  cit.  Ch.  X. 
passim. 

8.  For  Alba’s  bloodthirsty  career,  cf.  Hume,  Op.  cit.,  P.  372 — footnote 
especially. 

9.  Lester  F.  Ward;  Applied  Sociology,  P.  162;  Ginn  & Co.,  Boston,  1906. 

10.  Fox-Reece;  Martyrology,  Vol.  I.  Read  this  work,  tho  somewhat 
aged,  if  you  would  test  the  temper  of  political  Christianity.  Cf.  also 
the  works  of  Lea.,  op.  cit.  in  note  6,  passim. 


Don  Quixote — A Book 


205 


Inquisition;  but  I must  return  to  Cervantes.  He  must  have  heard 
of  the  Spanish  gold-and-silver-laden  galleons,  for  at  that  time  every 
one  had  his  ship  coming  in  at  turreted  Sevilla,  on  the  Guadalquivir,, 
He  must  have  heard  of  the  Invincible  Armada  (1588)  a threatening, 
murderous  cloud,  sailing  away  to  scourge  England's  renegades  and 
antichrists.  Spain  could  hardly  endure  these  Islanders  since  Henry 
the  VIII  had  been  proclaimed  by  the  English  Parliament  (1535)  , 
the  only  supreme  Head  of  the  Church  in  England!  Now,  Philip 
would  punish  this  boorish  pretense.  But  the  England  of  virtuous 
Queen  Bess  was  ready  with  its  good  ships  and  native  storms!  He 
must  have  heard  of  Luther  and  the  Reformation,  of  Jerusalem  and 
its  unquestioning  zeal.  He  must  have  heard  of  King  Francis  of 
France,  of  the  Medicis,  and  later,  of  St.  Bartholomew.  He  must 
have  heard  of  these  things  and  was  a spectator  of  some  of  these! 
But  if  so,  his  book  says  it  not.  As  a well  advised  Spaniard,  he  sees 
nothing,  hears  nothing,  knows  nothing,  at  least  he  says  nothing  of 
the  boiling  cauldron  of  his  day.  Yet,  he  must  have  felt  its  muzzling 
obscurantism,  the  operations  of  the  church,  and  its  resistance  to  truth 
thru  press-censorship.  Had  not  Spanish  literature  as  yet  discovered 
its  true  function,  or  was  it  interested  in  the  Ancients  only?  The 
latter,  I fear.  Cervantes  had  not,  nor  anyone  else,  as  yet  discovered 
the  Spanish  people.  No  one  at  least  had  spoken  in  language  meant 
for  men.  His  outward  sympathy  with  the  spiritual  system  of  Spain 
may  have  been  enlisted  thru  the  national  fear  of  the  Moors,  or  of  the 
Moriscoes, — race  hatred  being  then  extensively  exploited.  Had  he 
not  shared  the  national  zest  for  a raid  on  the  Jews,  or  a descent  on 
the  Turk?  But  Cervantes  is  as  silent  about  the  church  with  its  ' 
temporal  pretenses  as  he  is  about  the  monarchy  with  its  divine  pre-  !j 
tenses.  Yet  he  must  have  seen  that  these  institutions  were  enslaving 
his  country  with  erroneous  and  stupid  dogmas,  and  unworthy  deeds. 
Cervantes  knew  that  institutions  and  ideas  are  man-made,  projected 
by  men  to  emancipate  men  and  not  to  brand  them  with  a covenant 
distorted  into  proprietary  rights  of  divine  origin.  Even  Dante  sus- 
pected this,  tho  he  judge  with  the  reason  of  his  day,  err  with  the 
conscience  of  his  times,  and  censure  with  the  appalling  severity  of  : 
his  age.  But  however  much  we  might  expect  these  things  to  be 
dealt  with  in  his  great  book,  Cervantes  does  it  not.  We  might  en- 
joy contemporaneous  comment  on  Philip  II  living  in  his  Escorial 
tomb,  studying  magic,  bending  over  an  alembic  seeking  to  transfuse 
base  metals  into  gold;  or  in  his  crypt,  hung  with  ghoulish  shadows 
and  smoking  torches,  practicing  astrology;  but  Cervantes  has  not  a 


2o6 


The  Quarterly  Journal 

word  of  these  royal  idiosyncracies.^^  He  seems  leagued  with  the 
shades  of  night  to  hide  such  sinister  sinners  and  keep  their  painful 
secrets.  Or  else,  he  may  have  been  too  busy  making  history,  while 
a soldier,  in  his  early  manhood;  or  too  engrossed  with  his  own 
Quixotics,  as  an  author,  in  his  decline;  for  Cervantes  had  a busy 
life. 

There  are  three  important  epochs  in  his  life:  his  literary  and 
military  career  to  Lepanto  (1571)  ; his  captivity  of  five  years  among 
Algerian  corsairs  (1571-1576);  his  government  employ  and  his  in- 
cidental literary  activity  thence  to  his  death  in  1616.  As  a soldier 
he  fought  at  Lepanto  in  the  strait  of  Corinth,  under  Don  Juan  of 
Austria,  to  break  the  ever  threatening  and  tightening  crescent  of 
Turkish  invasion.^^  The  Turks  were  masters  of  the  Mediterranean, 
and  the  Christian  shores  were  constantly  and  mercilessly  pillaged  for 
slaves,  captives,  ransoms,  harems, — all  the  practices  of  the  pirates  of 
Barbary.  Lepanto  was  a great  but  late  victory  for  Christendom, 
and  Cervantes  gives  us  an  echo^*  of  it  in  his  famous  book.  We  get 
a startling  insight  into  the  traffic  of  Barbary  and  the  ways  of  the 
semi-orientals  of  North  Africa;  we  see  Cervantes  in  captivity  at 
Algiers,  with  a lot  of  helpless  wights,  mutilated  and  in  slavery,  a 
grewsome  crew,  noseless,  earless,  empaled,  in  chains,  or  rowing  in 
the  galleys  of  the  Turks  in  their  expeditions  against  the  infidels. 
The  chapters  on  the  “Captive”^^  are  of  the  most  vivid  in  his  great 
work.  Upon  his  return  to  Spain,  Cervantes  makes  a new  start  in 
life,  a wiser  man  despite  an  inordinate  thirst  for  fame,  still  a Span- 
iard in  political  outlook,  full  of  the  Golden  Age  he  has  helped  to 
make  for  romantic  Spain,  but  cured  of  the  visions  of  his  people.  In 
the  midst  of  his  varying  fortunes,  he  now  gives  a leisure  hour  to 
literature  hoping  to  achieve  fame  as  a dramatist,  the  dream  of  his 
youth.  Incidentally  and  between  the  acts  that  would  reform  the 
drama  of  Spain,  he  hits  off  and  publishes  in  chap-book  form,  they 


11.  (a)  On  the  madness  of  the  age  (1)  the  works  of  the  imagination 
dealing  with  madness,  and  (2),  the  actual  madness  of  men, — whatever  may 
have  been  the  cause,  much  has  been  written.  Shakespeare,  Calderon, 
Lope  de  Vega,  Cervantes,  Ariosto,  Tasso,  Philip  II.,  etc.,  either  produced 
great  studies  of  madness,  or  were  personally  mad. 

(b.)  Cf.  Havelock,  Ellis;  The  Soul  of  Spain.  Houghton,  MiflSin  & Co., 
Boston  and  New  York;  1908,  P.  226; — “King  Lear  appeared  in  the  same 
year  as  Don  Quixote^ — when  Shakespeare  brought  together  the  madman 
and  the  fool  on  the  heath  in  a concord  of  divine  humour.”  Not  unlike 
"Don  Quixote”  and  “Sancho”!  Nor  was  it  a mere  fad  of  the  Renaissance. 
It  was  characteristic  of  that  epoch  of  classic  imitation:  "The  Wrath  of 
Achilles  I sing,” — had  said  Homer,  in  the  Iliad. 

12.  The  historic  tide  is  turning.  Italy  has  just  closed  a victorious 
campaign  in  Africa,  against  Turkey.  The  Balkan  nations  are  about  to 
complete  the  work  of  destiny — and  of  Italy,  by  driving  the  Turk  back 
to  g'j  ^ 

13.  "bon  Quixote,”  Vol.  I.,  Ch.  39. 

14.  Vol.  I.,  Chs.  39-42. 


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Don  Quixote — A Book 

say, — “Nick  Carter”  style,  a series  of  jibes  and  jests  against  tales 
of  chivalry,  and  wakes  up  one  morning  astounded  to  find  himself 
read  and  appreciated  for  his  “Don  Quixote”  of  La  Mancha!  This 
celebrated  knight  might  have  hailed  from  any  other  wilderness  of 
Spain;  for  it  is  preposterous  that  La  Mancha  in  the  days  of  Cer- 
vantes should  own  a single  knight.  To  an  alert  Spaniard,  as  you 
see,  Cervantes’  book  is  funny  from  the  start. 

No  one  was  better  fitted  to  write  this  book;  in  an  age  eager  for 
wealth,  he  was  poor;  crazy  for  power,  he  had  such  only  in  his  house- 
hold; longing  for  landed  possessions,  he  had  none;  thirsting  for  im- 
mortality, he  had  hardly  achieved  fame;  morose  at  the  inroads  of 
heresy,  he  was  serene.  His  book  reveals  this  all  pervading  serenity. 

In  spite  of  oncoming  old  age,  he  is  in  healthy  animal  spirits,  and 
resourceful  in  adversity;  and  if  he  seems  but  little  concerned  with 
the  political  or  ecclesiastical  shams  of  his  day,  he  sees  nevertheless 
something  of  his  own  race,  a glimpse  of  his  own  people  thru  the 
medium  of  books.  I think  that  Cervantes  came  to  see  life  thru  j 
books  as  men  sometimes  are  led  to  see  nature  thru  art.  Taking  his 
cut  from  Amadis  of  Gaul,  he  proceeded  to  react  against  romances 
of  chivalry  which  he  considered  baneful  and  the  source  of  much 
of  Spanish  madness,  if  not  crime.  He  would  write  a true  tale,  some 
day,  to  shame  this  lying  stuff;  he  at  least  would  write  in  harmony 
with  the  possible  if  not  the  probable,  and  other  books  of  chivalry 
would  fall  an  easy  prey  to  his  pen.  In  his  varied  career  as  retainer, 
soldier,  public  servant,  and  author,  he  had  grown  practical,  as  you 
see,  but  not  entirely  disillusioned.  He  loved  the  tales  of  chivalry; 
he  enjoyed  the  marvellous  and  the  mysterious  quite  as  much  as  the 
native  Spaniard  likes  it  today.  What  came  over  Cervantes  that  made 
him  abandon  this  long  cherished  hope,  and  satirize  what  he  loved?  ♦ 
We  know  only  by  inference;  in  his  contact  with  life  he  had  met  the 
world  of  matter,  of  reality,  of  practical  morality.  He  starts  “Don 
Quixote”  and  Knight-Errantry  proves  a fallow  field  for  ridicule. 
He  shuns  the  spheres  of  direct  observation  which  might  lead  to  dan- 
gerous reflections  and  possible  recriminations  against  the  established 
order.  He  feigns  insanity  but  speaks  very  rationally  and  wisely. 
His  knight  is  as  bold  and  as  sane  as  any  maddon,  and,  of  course,  un- 
able to  waver  from  his  ethical  position.  Not  so  with  Sancho! 
“Squire”  Sancho  Panza  is  a startling  person,  a simple  serving  man,  a 
devoted  companion,  our  living  glebe!  His  good-humored  retainer- 
ship  is  the  most  happy  find  in  literature,  and  rescues  this  book  from 
being  a mere  variation  of  the  Picaresque  novel. 


208 


The  Quarterly  Journal 


Cervantes,  nevertheless,  imitates  the  Picaresque  novel  and  the 
Romances  of  Chivalry  he  ridicules.  The  chapters  on  the  “Captive,” 
for  instance,  open  like  the  Picaresque  novels  generally.  “Don 
Quixote”  bears  the  same  features.  Sancho  Panza  which  is  often 
called  an  irruption  of  realism  in  a pure  work  of  the  imagination, 
had  worthy  antecedents  in  Spain — ^without,  however,  so  wholesome 
and  contagious  a materialism.  Imitation  with  Cervantes  is  neither 
a literal  obsession  nor  a neutralizing  force;  it  is  reminiscence  rather 
than  memory.  This  fact  enabled  him  to  play  lightly  along  the  du- 
bious paths  of  parody  and  to  transmute  unawares  much  of  the  baser 
materials  of  his  vernacular  into  precious  literature.  He  admired 
Amadis  of  Gaul.^®  And  well  he  might,  for  the  Amadis  of  Gaul  is 
the  most  significant  imaginative  effort  in  the  literary  transition^® 
from  the  Middle  Ages  to  Modern  times;  it  was  the  worthiest  book 
of  chivalry  and  the  greatest  prose  work  before  “Don  Quixote.” 
Cervantes,  it  is  evident,  fused  in  his  masterwork  all  the  chivalry  of 
the  Amadis  for  his  Don  Quixote,  and  all  the  roguery  of  Lazarillo 
de  Tormes — and  other  rogues,  for  his  Sancho  Panza,  the  extremes  of 
idealism  with  the  extremes  of  realism  in  the  same  picture.^*^  Now, 
this  admirable  Amadis  of  Gaul,  of  indefinite  authorship,  but  attri- 
buted to  Lobeira,  is  said  to  have  originated  in  Portugal.^® 

But  Cervantes  was  probably  not  conscious  of  his  indebtedness  to 
the  Portuguese.  The  dead  have  no  proprietary  rights  in  literature; 
the  living  only  few;  and  Cervantes,  as  we  shall  see,  woke  up  to  his 
only  on  the  brink  of  the  grave.  But  this  is  not  to  our  purpose  ex- 
cept that  it  shows  that  “little”  Portugal  was  once  a force  in  litera- 
ture, even  in  Spanish  literature.  Ariosto,  Tasso,  and  many  others^® 
borrowed  from  Camoes,  the  Quixotic  author  of  the  Lusiads!  Por- 
tugal, it  must  be  remembered,  had  its  golden  age  of  Romance  with 
him,  before  Spain,  Italy,  France  or  England  had  theirs.  Indeed, 
“Don  Quixote”  has  served  to  perpetuate  not  only  the  memory  of 
much  literary  lore,  but  particularly  the  fame  of  what  it  intended 


15.  Cf.  the  English  translation  of  Robert  Southey,  from  the  Spanish 
version  of  G.  de  Montalvo;  3 vols.,  London,  John  Russell  Smith,  edition 
of  1872.  For  the  Spanish  translation  of  the  Portuguese  original,  cf.  The 
“Rivadeneyra  Library”;  Romances  of  Chivalry. 

16.  The  Amadis  of  Gaul  is  more  modern  than  medieval  in  construc- 
tion and  characterization.*  It  was  translated  into  the  leading  European 
languages,  and  in  Spain  alone  it  had  twenty-two  editions  from  1510-1587. 

17.  I find  a partial  parallel  to  my  thought  in  John  Garrett  Underhill — 
Spanish  Literature  in  the  England  of  the  Tudors,  page  372;  the  Mac- 
millan Company,  published  for  the  Columbia  Press,  N.  Y.,  1899. 

18.  Cf.  A.  Loiseau,  P.  55,  Histoire  de  la  Litt6rature  portugaise;  Paris, 
Ernest  Thorin,  1886.  Cf.  also  Southey,  Preface  of  op.  cit.  in  note  5;  “The 
romance  of  Amadis  of  Gaul  was  written  by  Vasco  I^obeira,  a Portuguese, 
towards  the  close  of  the  XIVth  Century.” 

19.  Loiseau,  P.  221,  op.  cit.  in  note  18. 


209 


Don  Quixote — A Book 

to  obscure,  the  Amadis  of  Gaul.  “Bien  des  gens,”  says  Professor 
Loiseau,  “ne  le  connaissent  que  par  Cervantes;  la  parodie  a donne  a 
I’oeuvre  la  vie  au  lieu  de  la  mort.  Si  personne  ne  lit  plue  TAmadis 
tout  le  monde  a Don  Quichotte.”^®  This  shows  that  books  of  chiv- 
alry like  Amadis  of  Gaul  were  still  widely  read  by  the  educated, 
talked  about  among  the  countless  illiterate,  and  believed  by  all. 

Anyhow,  chivalry  as  an  institution  was  lingering  only  in  books 
and  these  were  demoralizing  the  individual,  his  home,  his  land,  his 
life.  They  so  exalted  the  unreal,  and  endowed  the  remote  with  so 
much  charm  that  they  decentered  the  average  Spaniard.  He  ceased 
to  be  practical,  if  he  had  ever  been  so;  romance  was  a national 
obsession;  love  was  already  an  excuse  for  lechery;  bravery  for  mur- 
der, wit  for  rascality,  freedom  for  license.  He  would  not  pay  for 
food  or  lodging  and  altho  the  innkeeper  believed  firmly  in  the  chiv- 
alry read  to  him,  he  believed  not  in  impecunious  knights  of  flesh  and 
bone.  The  innkeeper  believed  in  giants  well  enough  but  “Don 
Quioxte”  must  settle  up  with  cash  for  the  beheaded  wine  skiiv. 
Everyday  life  was  so  honeycombed  with  magic,  enchantments,  charms, 
miracles  and  unrealities  as  to  make  liars  of  the  senses,  a dupe  of 
human  reason,  and  unfit  men  for  this  mundane  sphere.  . . . Poor 

illuded,  stubborn  Spain ; its  lack  of  fitness  to  see  the  truth,  to  rule  itself 
or  lead  the  world  is  fundamental.  Qualities  other  than  hers  are  re- 
quired to  guide  men  or  control  the  earth.  The  Arab,  whose  wont  it  is 
to  fold  his  tent  and  silently  steal  away,  reached  the  Spanish  shores  in 
an  evil  hour.  He  mingled  his  cultured  blood  with  a barren,  exalted 
breed,  only  to  be  discredited  and  spurned  without  mercy  by  this  ^ 
fanatical,  intolerant,  and  bull-fighting^^  Christian.  The  Spaniard  has 
fared  accordingly.  In  his  dash  for  glory,  and  renown,  his  native 
thirst  for  immortality  in  the  days  of  discovery  and  conquest,  I often 
think  I see  the  last  glow  of  the  Moorish  Crescent  cooling  in  the  far- 
off  Americas  and  finally  going  out!  And  Spain  is  hunger-stricken^^ 
in  the  midst  of  plenty ; Spain  is  idle^^  in  a world  of  great  commercial 
opportunity,  which  England  eagerly  seizes.  ...  A close  stu- 
dent of  Spanish  society  in  Cervantes’  day  has  it  in  a nutshell;  he 
says  of  the  provincial  gentleman  of  that  epoch : “L’hidalgo  vit  chiche- 
ment  sur  un  lopin  de  terre,  oisif  et  glorieux.  Glorieux,  car  il  est 


20.  Ibid,  pp.  53,  54. 

21.  Bull-fig-hting  is,  like  religion,  only  habitual  in  Spain.  It  is  not  an 
instinct;  it  is  due  to  cultivation  and  education  and  it  is  nation-wide. 

22.  On  Spain  dying  of  hunger — tho  the  greatest  wheat  country  in 
Europe — cf.  Hume,  P.  373,  foot-note,  op.  cit.  in  note  5. 

23.  Hume,  op.  cit.  in  note  5. 


210  The  Quarterly  Journal 

beau  de  se  sentir  noble,  oisif,  car  it  est  deshonorant  de  travailler.”^^ 
The  proof  of  national  improvidence  is  complete:  is  there  in  modern 
history  a more  thoro  or  swift  national  decay  and  a more  saddening 
spectacle  than  Spain’s  colonial  failures  and  actual  dispossession  ? 
. . . And  Sevilla  sleeps;  its  turreted  docks  and  ebbing  river 

banks  are  silent.  Only  an  occasional  ship  sights  the  Golden  Tower 
with  cornelian  stealth.  . . . But  Sevilla  may  waken.  Its  cathe- 

dral and  bull-ring,  serpentine  streets  and  carpet-hung  thorofares,  its 
white  Moorish  fronts  and  red  cascaded  roofs,  may  yet  start  at  the 
name  of  Cervantes,  and  his  call  for  patriotism.  And,  then,  the  gay 
old  city  of  plunder  and  privileges  may  shake  off  its  lethargy  and  its 
lone  streets  echo  once  more  with  the  martial  tread  of  the  conquisto- 
dors!  And  these  will  conquer  at  home,  usher  in  the  new  order,  ques- 
tion the  national  aversion  to  progress,  and  cease  living  in  isolation. 
America  will  hail  the  new  resurrection.  For  Spain  lives  in  her  exiles 
of  twenty  nations,^®  and  its  world  dream  is  rounding  into  coherence. 
Indeed,  great  national  revivals  are  at  hand.  New  Italy  is  risen,  and 
already  in  conflict  with  its  traditional  foes.  New  Spain  is  preparing 
to  follow  France  and  Portugal.  The  great  book  under  discussion  may 
here  play  an  important  role.  . . . And  it  must,  if  the  Spain  of 

Galdos,  of  Ferrer,  and  of  Canalejas,  heed  the  deeds  that  never  die  tho 
the  generations  come  and  go!  New  Italy  sprang  out  of  Dante  and 
his  “Wonderful  Vision.”  It  dignified  its  political  program  with  its 
bold  patriotism.  New  Portugal  took  flame  from  Camoes  and  his 
“Lusiads.”  New  Spain  may  yet  woo  and  win  fickle  political  fortune 
with  Cervantes.  His  delectable  “Quixote”  was  written  for  Span^ 
iards.  For  it  was  not  the  literature  of  the  day  which  was  mad,  it 
was  the  people  reading  it.  Thru  his  book  Cervantes  ultimately  meant 
to  reach  Spain,  not  books.  Such  a conclusion  is  inevitable  if  we 
reach  thru  the  book  to  the  soul  that  created  it. 

Cervantes,  before  Dickens,  foreshadowed  the  new  order,  the 
proletariat.  His  great  work  is  classic  and  of  the  past  of  course  thru 
“Don  Quixote”  and  his  “Kighthood” ; but  it  belongs  to  our  tinies 
thru  Sancho  Panza,  the  symbol  of  democracy.  The  civil  status  of 
the  people  had  gone  by  default  as  elsewhere  in  Europe,  thru  centuries 
of  ecclesiastical  enterprise.  And  the  Spanish  people  lay  buried  in 

24.  A.  Morel-Fatio;  Etudes  sur  I’Espag-ne;  I.  P.  337,  Ch.  V.  Le  Don 
Quichotte  envisagr6  comme  peinture  de  la  soci6t6  espagrnole  du  XVI  et  du 
XVII  sigcle. 

25.  The  first  Pan-American  Cong-ress  met  in  Mexico  City,  in  1901.  Cf. 
the  “Boletin”  of  the  South  American  Republics,  published  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.,  for  the  reports,  plans,  and  programs  of  the  Pan-American 
Union. — Bulletin  of  the  Pan-American  Union, — Official  organ  of  the  Union 
of  American  Republics,  Washington,  D.  C.  Illustrated. 


2II 


Don  Quixote — A Book 

history  for  seven  hundred  years.  Cervantes  sounded  a first  reviving 
note  in  his  “Numancia.”^^  But  in  spite  of  its  enthusiasm,  Spanish 
patriotism  lay  stone-dead  in  the  spell  of  church  altars.  His  “Nu- 
mancia,”  tradition  says,  was  a literary  clamor  in  the  field  of  history, 
an  exercise  in  the  classic  fiction  of  ancient  Rome,  with  so  much 
rhetorical  warmth  as  to  once  kindle  action  and  heroism.  . . . 

Once,  is  not  a whole  failure.  But  his  “Numancia,”  it  is  agreed,  is  not 
the  living  prose  of  “Don  Quixote.”  The  play  in  verse  is  not  on  the 
democratic  plane  of  a “squire”  about  to  rule  “Barataria” — without 
patriotism ! . . . For  even  “Don  Quixote”  breathed  his  heroic  day 
oblivious  of  political  liberty,  as  an  abstract  idea  or  social  principle. 
Sancho,  his  convivial  squire — as  little  conscious  of  Spanish  patriotism 
— frets  over  his  home,  not  his  country.  It  was  the  wisdom  born  of 
prudence  and  experience.  Cervantes,  like  the  Spaniard  of  his  day, 
takes  Spain  for  granted,  and  the  world  as  a matter  of  course;  too 
much  so  perhaps  to  inflame  the  patriots  of  New  Spain,  leaderless  and 
landless!  What  if  a splendid  racial  egotism  without  roots  in  native 
soil  once  made  him  a Spaniard  at  home  on  the  globe?  What  if  this 
romantic  Spaniard,  long  envied  and  imitated  abroad,  subdued  em- 
pires for  the  Friars?  It  was  good  for  old  Spain,  but  not  for  a rising 
Spain,  imbued  with  new  thought.  The  odd  citizenship  of  “Don 
Quixote,”  contagious  in  achievement,  impervious  to  ridicule,  oblivious 
of  defeat,  is  perhaps  too  much  charmed  with  haunting  security  and 
idle  placidity,  to  overcome  social  inertia  and  economic  stagnation. 
But  it  was  only  the  part  of  discretion.  Nor  would  the  Spaniard  of 
that  day  have  sensed  Lessing,  who  owned  fraternity  with  mankind, 
regardless  of  nationality,  or  creed,  or  landmarks.  Cervantes  was 
always  a Spaniard  and  a Faithful;  to  him  the  world  belonged;  over 
it,  he  roamed  its  law-fiiver  and  final  judge,  like  Don  Quixote! 


26.  (a)  Numancia, — a play,  Translated  by  I.  T.  Gibson,  London,  1885. 
— Another  translation  in  French  is  given  in  Larousse,  Grand  Dictionnaire. 
(b)  Theatre  de  Cervantes,  by  Alphonso  Royer,  1862,  12  mo. 

— Speaking  of  the  “Numancia” — not  given  in  the  Rivadeneyra  of  1864 
— Ticknor  says:  “It  awakened  and  still  continues  to  awaken  patriotism.” 
. . . “With  Cervantes  the  hapless  Numancians  are  Spaniards.”  Cf.  P. 

126,  Vol.  II,  Spanish  Literature,  3 vols.,  Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co.,  Boston, 
1882. 

— And  Fitzmaurice-Kelly,  after  rating  the  exaltation  of  Ticknor — whom 
he  accuses  of  condoning  the  bad  technique  of  the  “Numancia”  as  a play — 
says:  “First  and  last,  the  play  is  a devout  and  passionate  expression  of 
patriotism;  and  as  such  the  writer’s  countrymen  have  held  it  in  esteem.” 
Cf.  P.  225,  Spanish  Literature,  D.  Appleton  & Co.,  N.  T.,  1898. 

— And  Larousse,  in  the  Grand  Dictionnaire  Universel,  rehearsing  the 
critiques  of  his  day,  pronounces  this  play — written  about  1584  (and  pub- 
lished only  three  hundred  years  later: — “L’un  des  plus  beaux  du  Theatre 
espagnol.”  Cf.  P.  1158 — art.  Numance.  In  this  article  are  given  the 
old  verdicts  of  Sismondi,  of  Schlegel,  and  the  judgment  of  Ticknor — so 
warmly  berated  by  Fitzmaurice-Kelly,  quoted  above.  The  old  critics, 
especially  under  the  influence  of  French  models,  believe  the  Numancia 
a good  play;  others,  a bad  play;  but  all  agree  on  its  flne  patriotism. 


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And  much  of  this  world  is  still  Spanish  and  much  of  its  virgin  soil 
still  belongs  to  the  denizens  of  “Barataria,”  land  for  Don  Quixote 
to  give  and  for  “Sancho”  to  rule!  What  an  alluring  field  for  the 
waking  patriot  and  what  tempting  work  for  the  student  and  the 
scholar,  the  economist  and  the  statesman  1 They,  too,  are  contributing 
to  the  national  revival;  the  movement  for  nationality  and  democracy 
is  largely  their  work.  In  this  time  of  need,  their  duty  is  no  longer 
purely  academic;  they  labor  to  transmute  feudal  blood  into  modern 
work,  and  social  position  into  popular  education.  Perhaps  the  time 
has  come  when  the  “Cervantes-Saavedra”^"^  may  knit  hands  with  the 
“Dante-Alighieri”28  for  Latin  concord  and  unity! 

It  was  an  inauspicious  day  when  early  Christianity  blazed  the 
way  to  heaven  for  a people  without  sufficient  native  stamina,  enough 
of  the  instinct  of  self  preservation  and  individual  dignity  to  react, 
even  in  time,  against  the  zeal  of  its  material  priestcraft  and  imbecile 
royalty;  nor  indeed,  able  to  rescue  from  these  its  rights  to  national 
existence  and  terrestrial  subsistence ! But  the  book  is  a little  broader 
— more  philosophical  as  it  were;  it  deals  with  the  duperj^  of  men, 
the  old  humanitarian  fraud  exploited  by  the  church,  the  old  judicial 
pretense  executed  by  the  State!  “Men  are  like  Sancho,”  says  Ste- 
Beuve  'P  “they  whet  their  native  sagacity  on  some  folly  in  which  they 
half  believe,  as  a grinder  his  knives  on  stone.”  Most  men  indeed 
sharpen  only  upon  contact  with,  much  of  our  useless  and  antiquated 
hardened  social  organism.  Like  Sancho,  they  stick  to,  and  believe  in 
this  silly  order  of  things,  to  the  extent  of  a third  or  fourth  of  it, 
just  enough  to  keep  it  alive,  especially  if  baited  unto  adherence  with 
some  interest  or  humoured  with  a promise  of  reward;  the  bribe  of 
fame  or  of  eternal  life,  an  office,  a sacristy,  or  a speakership,  or  an 
“island,”  as  in  this  case.  And  when  Sancho  obtains  the  governorship 
of  his  long  coveted  island  he  governs  apparently  as  wisely  and  effec- 
tively as  any  of  the  governors  of  his  day — men  he  had  seen — crafty, 
irrational,  incapable,  ignorant,  selfish,  haughty,  and  dissolute — the 
creatures  of  kings.  But  the  pages  of  Cervantes  on  government  are 
little  quoted  nowadays;  he  says  nothing  of  our  burning  municipal 
problem  or  of  methods  of  government;  even  less  on  reform  tho  he 
prate,  thru  his  Sancho,  of  justice,  right,  etc.,  in  subtle  parables;  and 


27.  The  writer  has  in  mind  “La  Cervantes-Saavedra — Sociedad  Inter- 
nacionale  hispano-Americana” — with  a program  much  like  that  of  the 
“Dante  Alighieri  Society”  of  Italy. 

28.  La  Dante  Alighieri,  Society  nazionale  per  la  diffuslone  della  lingua 
e della  coltura  itialiane  fuori  del  regno. 

29.  Ste-Beuve — Nouveaux  Lundis,  VIII.  Reflexions  on  Don  Quixote,  P. 
38,  Calmann  L§vi,  Paris,  4th  edition,  1885. 


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Don  Quixote — A Book 

I have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  if  he  did  he  would  hold — in  spite 
of  his  own  administration  of  Barataria — the  old  aristocratic  argu- 
ment that  the  people  need  bread,  not  votes;  work,  not  constitutional 
amendments;  money  to  pay  house  rent,  not  referendums;  clothing, 
not  recalls;  employment,  not  initiatives — representatives,  not  direct 
election  by  the  people — and  modern  literature  would  once  more  gasp 
at  this  criminal  indifference  or  supine  ignorance  of  popular  govern- 
ment and  its  claims!  But  to  Cervantes,  government  was  an  art, 
not  a science. 

Thru  the  net-work  of  alternately  literary  and  artistic  currents 
there  runs  a live  undercurrent  of  social  concern  and  philosophical 
interest.  Cervantes’  famous  book  thus  combines  social  with  literary 
endeavor.  His  book  is  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  modern  things ; there 
is  not  as  in  Rousseau, — who  lived  his  own  life  but  wrote  for  pos- 
terity,— a constant  out-cropping  of  the  great  modern  traits;  still  his 
book  is  live  writing.  His  satire  of  the  literature  of  chivalry  bespeaks  a 
revolted  mind,  actuated  by  rational  motives.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  literary  art  his  book  is  an  advance  over  his  contemporaries.  Don 
Quixote  looms  up  gaunt,  inalterable,  immaculate,  thru  the  author’s 
thousand  pages.  . . . Sancho  Panza,  gross,  matter  of  fact,  seeking, 
and  loquacious,  is  a worthy  squire  to  a most  worthy  knight.  No  one 
but  Cervantes,  it  seems,  could  have  created  two  such  figures,  endowed 
them  with  life,  to  say  nothing  of  verisimilitude,  and  let  them  wander 
with  such  ease — not  in  the  wastes  of  La  Mancha,  but  thru  the  treas- 
ures varied  and  often  delicate  of  his  great  book.  . . . But  Roci- 

nante  was  sure-footed,  and  Dapple  a wise  Donkey.  Moreover,  this 
book  is  remarkable  for  naturalness  of  speech  and  simplicity  of  con- 
struction. There  was  need  of  it.  Think  of  the  men,  women  and 
things  which  constitute  Cervantes’  world.  A patient  man  has  reck- 
oned six  hundred  and  sixty-nine  personages — ^without  a villain  among 
them.^®  You  must  not  be  deprived  of  the  pleasure  of  making  their 
acquaintance  yourselves,  and  pass  on  this  villain  question!  But  the 
book  has  the  additional  interest  due  to  international  influences.  Spain 
had  long  been  in  political  relations  with  Italy.  Hume  speaks  of  these 
in  no  uncertain  terms:  “Most  of  the  impetus  in  art  and  literature  had 
come  from  Italy,  which  country  was  closely  connected  with  Spain 
by  common  allegiance  and  constant  intercommunications  in  war  and 
peace.  Spanish  soldiers,  traders,  officials  and  adventurers,  were  al- 
so. On  the  personagres  of  “Don  Quixote,”  cf.  P.  241,  op.  cit.  in  note 
11.  The  book  of  Cervantes  does  not  preclude  villanous  people.  The 
absence  of  a full-fledged  formal  villain  in  “Don  Quixote”  only  shows  that 
Cervantes  was  not  a conventional  dramatist  or  novelist. 


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most  as  familiar  with  Italian  as  with  their  own  tongue  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  Spanish  was  the  fashionable  language  in  most  of  the 
Italian  cities.”^^  And  Morel-Fatio  speaks  no  less  truly:  “Cervantes 
est  avant  tout  un  disciple  de  I’ltalie;  un  eleve  enthousiaste  de  celui 
qu’il  nomme  le  divin  Arioste  (Galatea,  livre  VI).  Ce  maitre  lui  a 
enseigne  avec  certains  artifices  de  style,  le  procede  qui  a fait  sa  force 
et  sa  gloire  et  dont  vit  le  Don  Quichotte;  Tironie,  aimable,  enjouee, 
presque  indulgente,  I’oppose  de  cotte  ironie  froide,  cruelle,  accablante 
des  premiers  picaresques  espagnols.  Cervantes  est  tout  penetre 
d’ltalie.”^^  These  are  illumniating  words  on  the  relations  between 
Spain  and  Italy  at  this  time. — Nor  should  we  overlook  in  the  style 
of  Cervantes  the  influence  of  the  “Amadis  of  Gaul,”  which  is  the 
sturdiest  literary  antecedent  in  the  evolution  of  “Don  Quioxte.” 
These  relations  and  influence  crop  out  betimes  in  the  work  of  Cer- 
vantes. The  reader  of  “Don  Quioxte”  presently  finds  himself  con- 
fronted with  names  and  products  of  Italian  literature.  Echoes  of 
Tasso’s  Jerusalem  Liberated,  a witching  epic;  enchanting  things  from 
Ariosto’s  Orlando  Furioso,^^  a mad  pendant  to  “Don  Quixote,”  but 
another  entrancing  court  epic;  pages  of  pastoral  literature,  the  next 
human  literary  foible  that  Cervantes  would  have  ridiculed^^  had  he 
lived  long  enough ; and  other  borrowings  from  Italy  of  interest  mainly 
to  the  connoisseur  unless  perhaps  we  except  the  “short  stories”  in 
the  first  volume.  There  are  various  opinions  including  that  of  Cer- 
vantes in  the  second  volume,  regarding  their  literary  merit,  composi- 
tion and  introduction  into  the  body  of  the  work. — Here  they  lie,  like 
the  Italian  palace  of  Charles  V,  among  the  Moorish  towers  of  the 
Alhambra,  tolerated  with  the  tolerance  of  oblivion.  This,  at  least, 
is  the  feeling  of  dismay  which  overtakes  the  traveler  who  first  climbs 
the  storied  road  to  the  Alhambra.  I know  of  no  like  violation  of 
taste  except  the  belfry  of  the  Giralda — another  conceit  of  Charles  V, 
which  in  its  hybrid  make-up  lacks  the  force  of  the  Florentine  “pugno,” 
on  the  ducal  palace.  Cervantes  has  knitted  these  short  stories  and 
their  Italian  life  to  his  purpose  but,  with  too  little  gain  of  substance 


31.  Hume,  P.  404,  op.  cit.  in  note  5. 

32.  Morel-Fatio,  pp.  375-6.  op.  cit.  in  note  24. 

33.  Cf.  The  Orlando  Purioso  of  Ludovico  Ariosto,  Translated  into 
English  verse  by  Wm.  Stewart  Rose;  2 vols.,  London,  George  Bell  & 
Sons.  Translation  finished  in  1831. 

— For  a good  discussion  of  "Roland  Furieux,”  cf.  the  excellent  book 
of  M.  Henri  Hauvette;  Litt^rature  Italienne,  Ch.  V.,  pt.  II.,  pp.  227-246 
(Ouvrage  couronng  par  I’Acadgmie  Frangaise)  2nd  M.,  A.  Colin,  Paris, 
1910. 

34.  Cf.  Les  Deux  Don  Quichotte — Etude  critique  sur  I’oeuvre  de  Fer- 
nandas Avellaneda,  Paris,  Didier,  Nov.,  1852, — Opuscule  by  A.  Germond  de 
Lavigne,  translator  of  the  Celestina  of  Rojas,  of  the  Tacano  of  Quevedo, 
and  of  Avellaneda’s  "sequel”  to  the  "Don  Quixote”  of  Cervantes. 


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Don  Quixote — A Book 

and  too  large  a cost  to  his  art, — in  interest,  suspense,  and  unity.  Their 
interpolation  affords  here  another  comparison  and  a few  reflections. 
They  stand  in  relation  to  the  purely  Spanish  work  of  Cervantes  as 
the  restorations  of  the  Alhamhra  to  the  same  art  in  the  palace  of  Peter 
the  Cruel.  It  is  the  art  of  a different  people  of  the  same  race.  But 
it  speaks  a staccato  more  pronounced  in  a tone  less  mellow;  the  light 
of  the  Alcazar  is  less  soft  and  the  whole  breathes  an  atmosphere  less 
intimate.  For  this  Italian  influence,  read  the  story  of  “Cardenio”; 
and  then  follow  the  life  of  the  “Captive.”  Altho  both  are  wrought 
with  care,  you  feel  no  effort  of  style  in  the  latter,  the  running  text 
is  always  more  loose  and  also  more  largely  constructed  than  that  of 
the  short  stories.  These  interpolated  recitals  invariably  seem  more 
artificial  tho  they  are  more  artistic.  Their  language  and — as  the 
French  call  it,  their  feature  (technique) — is  more  studied,  compact, 
and  stilted,  not  to  say  stiff.  It  may  be  justly  observed  here  that  what 
Cervantes  makes  up  in  style  (largely  under  Italian  influence),  he 
loses  in  taste  and  force  (largely  under  that  same  influence).  Nor 
am  I able  to  account  for  this  artistic  heresy  in  spite  of  the  labors  of 
Bennett^^  and  others  on  literary  style  and  taste.  That  he  can  be 
meticulous,  however,  many  of  his  works  reveal,  as  well  as  most  of 
his  “Second  Part,”  or  sequel  to  “Don  Quixote.”  And  that  these 
foreign  borrowings  do  not  fit  like  square  pegs  in  round  holes  is  due 
to  sheer  art  in  Cervantes.  Still,  they  lack  his  native  freedom,  his 
spontaneous,  rambling  style,  his  direct  and  large  sweep  of  the  pen, 
the  unadorned  and  vigorous  exposition  of  the  iconoclast! 

It  is  fortunate  for  these  interpolations  that  the  book  of  Cervantes 
is  simple  in  construction.  Indeed,  no  book  could  be  simpler.  The 
work  is  complete  in  two  volumes,  or  parts, — separated,  historically,  by 
the  lapse  of  many  years,  and  philosophically,  by  the  weight  of  many 
cares.  . . . Why  this  Second  Part?  Why  this  long  silence? 
Why  this  new  stand  if  not  a literary  subterfuge?  . . . Surely 
not  merely  for  artistic  fulfillment! — Was  the  message  of  the  first 
part  incomplete,  uncertain,  unconvincing?  ...  If  so,  the  reader 
is  little  served  by  the  sequel!  Why  this  grudge  at  Avellaneda — un- 
known and  unfound — ^with  feints  and  thrusts,  and  strange  parleys 
with  men-at-law?  . . . Have  we  not  here  the  new  madness, 

and  “Quixstiz”  and  “Panzino,”  their  new  sheepfold  and  new  pas- 
ture— with  all  the  wolves  thrown  off  the  scent?  . . . But, 

enough  of  conjecture!  . . . The  first  part  shows  what  is  done; 

35.  Arnold  Bennett,  “Literary  Taste  and  How  to  Form  It,”  George  H. 
Doran  Co.,  New  York. 


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the  second  tells  what  happens.  The  first  is  dynamic — direct,  real, 
•unadorned.  The  second  is  static  and  slow — and  much  of  it  is  fantas- 
tic pastoral  stuff, — not  the  conventional  Italian  pastoral  of  the  day^® ; 
and,  to  vary  the  monotony  of  virtue  in  those  blessed  times,  each  part 
contributes  an  occasional  low  story,  or  a facetious  anecdote.  The 
first  part  of  “Don  Quixote”  is  in  the  vein  of  literary  farce — the  blows 
received  are  exaggerated,  the  threshings  numerous,  the  moods  inten- 
sified, the  conclusions  indifferent.  The  animals  to  which  master  and 
servant  have  entrusted  their  wills,  are  rather  conspicuous.  The  per- 
sonages are  real.  Heroic  deeds  crack  on  the  doughty  knight’s  bones 
or  armor;  the  events  are  probable,  altho  bound  up  with  lowest  ele- 
ments of  Spanish  society.  The  bookish  ideal  and  the  earthly  real 
crash  mightily.  The  wary  Quixote  shuns  human  habitations  and 
human  comforts,  and  nature  lends  its  dash  of  color  in  a life  lived  in 
the  open  wilds  of  LaMancha.  ...  I say  “lends”  because  Cer- 
vantes is  of  his  age  regarding  nature;  he  is  out  in  nature  but  not  with 
nature,  its  moods  and  essentials;  there  is  no  special  reference  to  the 
air,  the  sunlight,  the  sky,  in  their  vital  significance.  Cervantes’  feeling 
for  nature  was  perhaps  more  wanting  than  unrealized.  In  any  case, 
his  expression  of  nature  is  conventional,  if  his  Sierra  Morena  be  taken 
as  an  instance.  It  is  inadequate,  for  the  modern  student,  at  least, 
and  of  a card-board  complexion  which  strongly  suggests  the  stage- 
art  of  his  day.  The  wild  splendor  of  the  Sierra,  its  cumulative  power, 
did  not  invade  his  artistic  consciousness  if  it  moved  his  soul  at  all. 
Schiller  would  have  done  better  tho  of  course  more  happily  served 
by  the  imagination  of  his  time.  In  this  matter,  however,  Cervantes 
may  have  yielded  to  the  manner  of  the  day.  The  vogue  was  Italian ; 
it  is  found  in  the  treatment  of  those  subjects  felt  to  belong  to  Italian 
letters  and  art:  as  the  treatment  of  nature  largely  stereotyped  by  the 
pastorals  of  Italy.  This  same  influence  it  was  that  we  felt  more  es- 
pecially in  the  short  stories  interpolated  by  Cervantes. 

The  Second  Part,  or  sequel  to  “Don  Quixote,”  introduces  the 
principals  to  the  rascals  of  high  life — ^with  a corresponding  change,  of 
environment.  Cervantes  now  proceeds  to  show  the  need  of  a new 
society.  The  atmosphere  has  changed;  life  and  events  are  staged  as 
in  a comedy;  the  book  is  less  real  but  more  artistic,  more  compact 
and  literary;  the  actors  are  more  sophisticated  and  have  more  lucid 
moments.  Don  Quixote  accepts  shelter,  comfort  and  leisure,  and 
Sancho  grows  more  conventional  and  cultured  from  experience  and 

36.  M.  Lavigrne  holds  that  the  “sequel”  of  Cervantes  is  largely  and 
un-wittingly  pastoral  in  atmosphere.  Op.  cit.  in  note  34. 


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social  contact.  But  such  experience  and  such  contact!  It  is  a most 
incredible  phase  of  Cervantes’  work.  Poor  human  victims,  of  design 
and  craft! — But,  even  here,  the  humorous  vein  is  rich,  and  nothing 
is  more  shrewdly  conceived  than  Sancho’s  penitential  lash  (diverted 
by  him  to  neighboring  trees)  in  expiation  of  his  master’s  folly  and 
imaginary  wrongs. — It  is  the  craft  learned  in  the  school  of  life. 
. . . The  school  of  life  gives  experience,  to  meet  experience;  it 

lends  to  the  understanding  a practical  sense  of  the  isms  exploited  by 
countless  charletans  or  obscured  by  the  ruling  few.  This  school  of 
life  does  not  arm  the  soldier’s  tongue  for  the  scorn  of  position, 
the  abstractions  of  theology  or  the  obtrusiveness  of  dialectics, 
. . . nor  the  boor’s  with  subtle  wisdom.  . . . Nor  is  this 
part  of  “Don  Quixote”  difficult  to  understand.  In  spite  of 
his  desire  to  subtilize  and  theorize,  Cervantes  is  clear.  It  does 
not  demand  more  historical  knowledge  than  the  other  part  to  be 
read  with  profit  by  the  average  reader.  A large  reality  still  pervades 
the  book;  its  external  symbolism  is  intentionally  merged  with  mock 
internal  mysticism,  a combination  exceedingly  subtle  and  bold  in  the 
artistry  of  his  day.  But  Cervantes  here  succeeds  admirably;  he  ac- 
complishes the  unteachable  thing;  the  miracle  wrought  in  the  execu- 
tion of  this  great  work ; he  fuses  matter  with  style  and  leaves  us  to 
marvel  at  that  external  question  of  style  solved  with  off-hand  alac- 
rity by  the  practical  genius  of  our  day. 

Another  feature  of  the  second  part,  not  intended  to  be  humor- 
ous, is  Cervantes’  literary  wrath  at  Avellaneda,  the  harmless  writer 
of  a “sequel”^'^  to  “Don  Quixote”;  he  was  so  bold  as  to  poach  on 
Cervantes’  preserves  long  enough  to  “see  thru”  the  “Don  Quixote” 
in  its  second  part.  From  the  59th  chapter  to  its  close,  thru  14  chapters, 
the  cynical  “theft”  and  impertinent  claims  of  Avellaneda  haunt  him 
and  disturb  his  wonted  equanimity.  And  yet,  it  has  been  shown^* 
that  Cervantes  actually  copied  this  much  reviled  “Continuator” ; that 
Cervantes  was  even  surpassed^^  by  Avellaneda  in  the  execution  of  the 
“logical”  sequel  or  second  part  to  “Don  Quixote”;  and  that  behind 
the  pseudonym  lay  not  a “boor”  but  a well-intentioned  gentleman^® 


37.  The  Sequel  of  Avellaneda  may  be  found  in  its  native  idiom  in 
“Novelistas  posteriores  a Cervantes, — M.  Rivadeneyra,  Vol.  XVIII  of  the 
Biblioteca  de  Autores  Espanoles,  Madrid,  1852,  pp.  1-115,  double  column; 
a literary  curiosity,  if  of  no  other  interest  now. 

38.  This  opinion  is  reached  by  Professor  A.  G.  de  Lavigfie  after  a 
close  study  of  the  two  orig-inals,  P.  37,  op.  cit.  in  note  34. 

39.  About  the  respective  merits  of  the  two  sequels,  cf.  chs.  Ill,  IV, 
and  V.  Lavigne,  op.  cit.  in  note  34. 

40.  Concerning  the  identity  of  the  writer  of  the  Avellaneda  “sequel” 
and  the  name  of  Dr.  Bartolome  Leonardo  de  Argensola — Aragonese, 
(1564—),  cf.  Ch.  II.,  pp.  27-30,  op.  cit.  in  note  34.  Regarding  the  “Avel- 


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and  a scholar — the  belated  ire  of  M.  de  Ste-Beuve^^to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding.  But  this  is  a long  story,  the  closing  chapters  of 
which  belong,  I fear,  to  posterity.  The  controversy,  fortunately, 
cannot  deprive  us  of  the  sequel  of  the  one  or  of  the  other ; and,  as  the 
world  would  be  poorer,  you  will  agree,  without  a sequel  of  any  sort 
by  Cervantes,  we  owe  it  in  truth  to  Avellaneda.  Tho  it  accelerated 
its  completion, — there  are  signs  of  haste  in  the  closing  chapters  of  the 
book,  it  compelled  Cervantes  as  no  other  thing  had,  to  publish  this 
second  part,  a promise  of  long  standing  and  in  the  case  of  some  of 
his  works,  never  fulfilled.  This  brought  his  wonderful  career  prac- 
tically to  an  end.  “Don  Quixote”  had  been  in  the  making  for  thirty 
years,  an  old  man’s  book  but  abundantly  nourished  and  singularly 
well  balanced,  for  its  author  was  now  at  peace  with  the  world.  Yet, 
latter  day  wizards  have  sought  to  read  into  it  much  political,  ecclesi- 
astical, and  social  symbolism,  or  diabolism,  going  so  far  as  to  pro- 
nounce his  Lady  Dulcinea  del  Toboso  a subtle  grind  on  the  virgin 
Mary ; but  there  is  nothing  in  this,  altho  mariolatry  and  other  forms 
of  idolatry  are  rampant  in  Spain.  There  is  nothing  so  subtly  sym- 
bolical in  Cervantes’  great  book,  men  having  at  all  times  idealized 
the  young  woman,  if  not  idolized  her  outright. 

Many  other  wonderful  claims  are  made  for  its  genial  author  but 
all  quite  as  futile.  . . . Cervantes’  book,  I repeat,  is  the  last  of  the 
books  of  chivalry ; it  rehearses  by  reference  all  the  others ; it  discred- 
its these  works  of  imposture  on  the  credulous,  their  charlatanry,  their 
science  of  magic,  sorcery,  astrology,  and  enchantments.  It  ridicules 
their  view  of  life  with  deeds  passing  wonderful  but  probable,  out-does 
with  native  Spaniards  both  mad  and  sane  the  unearthly  prowess  of 
enchanted  foreign  knights.  It  ruined,  not  the  institution  which  was 
dead,  but  its  baneful  lingering  idealism,  its  out-of-date  dogmatism,  and 
{pretended  public  utility.  Tho  still  essentially  literary  and  not  yet  a 
transcript  from  actual  life,  this  note  of  the  probable,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  possible,  makes  Cervantes’  book  the  first  modern  book  in  Spain, 
in  spirit,  in  purpose,  if  not  in  contents.  Its  naturalness  of  speech  and 
contagious  satire  made  all  other  Spanish  books  ridiculous.  Spain  was 
a rich  field  for  satire;  it  is  still  open  to  satire,  and  most  hopelessly 


laneda”  Sequel,  the  “Rivadeneyra”  editor,  Don  Cayetano  Rosell,  says  that 
the  real  author  of  this  sequel  is  not  known;  3rd  note,  P.  1 of  Rosell’s 
preface  to  the  imitation  (1864);  also  P.  XXX  of  Vol,  I.,  vida  de  Cer- 
vantes. Note  that  these  Spanish  editors  of  the  Rivadeneyra  do  not  ac- 
cept the  conclusions  of  M,  de  Lavig-fie,  arrived  at  twelve  years  before. 

41.  Ste-Beuve,  P.  29  of  op.  cit.  in  note  29,  squelches  M.  de  Lavigrne 
for  his  “Don  Quichotte  de  Fernandas  Avelleneda” — Didier,  Paris  (trans- 
lation named  in  foot-note  to  P.  29),  and  bitterly  criticizes  Avellaneda  for 
his  erstwhile  impertinence!  Truly  amusing  in  M.  de  Ste-Beuve! 


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Don  Quixote — A Book 

in  need  of  it,  modern,  wholesome,  cogent,  regenerating  satire.  And 
yet,  I doubt  if  Spain  is  much  farther  traveled  on  the  road  to  reason  ; 
in  spite  of  Don  Quixote’s  bruises,  his  moments  of  lucidity  piercing 
thru  the  national  dementia,  the  Spanish  character  has  not  been  phased. 
Cervantes  endowed  his  heroes  with  too  much  human  sympathy  to 
challenge  reflection  and  effect  regeneration, — the  Spaniard  is  “Quix- 
otic” still  and  is  not  ashamed.  Cervantes’  work  is  more  like  a vindica- 
tion of  the  common  Spaniard  seeing  ideals  with  native  clarity,  but  un- 
educated or  educated  falsely,  a victim  of  his  institutions,  of  antiquated 
systems,  and  of  men  who  by  the  most  questionable  methods  have  for 
centuries  deliberately  converted  the  means  of  social  emancipation  into 
a national  self-complacent  inertia.  These  motives  are  most  apparent 
in  modern  Spain;  out  of  19,000,000  (in  1900)  people,  only  one  third 
today  know  how  to  read  or  write;  out  of  eighteen  provinces,  only 
one  is  industrially  significant ; its  few  consumptive  railroads  have  only 
succeeded  slowly  to  drain  the  rural  districts  and  congest  the  stifling 
city.  And  yet  this  social  massing  at  vital  points  may  open  a new  era 
for  the  Spanish  people  coming  as  it  does  under  the  spell  of  the  politi- 
cal agitator  and  the  popular  socialist."*^  For  even  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  has  made  the  people  resourceful  in  the  lace  of  intolerance 
and  obscuration.  Withal,  the  work  of  Cervantes  survives.  “Don 
Quixote  de  la  Mancha”  remains  a diversion  as  amusing  to  the  un- 
suspecting Spaniard  as  to  the  wary  world.  It  is,  unobtrusively  withal, 
full  of  moral  significance  and  great  in  human  interest.  It  did  its 
work  unerringly  against  ridiculous  literature ; to  have  coped  with  life 
more  effectively,  to  have  struck  at  Spanish  institutions  more  vitally, 
would  have  required  the  laughter  of  Moliere,  the  pen  of  Voltaire,  the 
imagination  of  Rousseau,  the  critical  sense  of  the  French  revolutionist. 
To  have  done  it  would  have  required  a different  aim  in  XVIth  cen- 
tury literature,  in  Spain,  and  a different  purpose  in  Cervantes ; writing 
in  those  days  was  largely  a society  or  court  diversion,  the  cultivation 
of  an  art,  and  only  incidentally  a public  utility  or  a humanitarian  in- 
strument. That  Cervantes  had  ideas  on  the  pompous  rhetoricians 
of  his  day  you  will  find  delightfully  shown  in  his  prefaces  and  in  the 
body  of  the  work. 

In  reading  “Don  Quixote,”  you  will  need  to  be  patient ; you  will 
find  that  Cervantes  nods  like  the  great  epic  poets,  a fond  characteristic 
of  literary  greatness.  But  you  will  be  pleased  to  find  your  objec- 
tions anticipated,  for  when  the  interest  of  the  story  begins  to  flag, 

42.  For  the  movement  of  Spanish  life  to  the  city,  cf.  Havelock  Ellis, — 
op.  cit.  in  note  11  (b) — Introduction,  P.  3. 


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Sancho  frets  and  wants  to  go  home.  Can  you  imagine  more  father- 
ly solicitude  for  the  child  of  his  brain  or  the  “dear  gentle  reader” — 
whom  Cervantes  always  addresses  in  witching  prefaces  full  of  delight- 
ful intimacies,  freshness,  and  candor? — And  the  mirth, — and  the 
fun, — and  the  proverbs ! . . . Not  the  least  inviting  phase  of  “Don 
Quixote”  and  withal  characteristic  of  Spanish  books,  is  the  matter-of- 
fact,  common-place  philosophy  of  Spaniards,  as  revealed  by  their 
proverbs.  They  spring  uninvited  on  every  occasion,  with  Spanish  self 
assurance  and  self  sufficiency.  They  constitute  the  hearsay  science  of  a 
stagnating  people,  the  argument  of  the  ignorant,  the  obsession  of  our 
modern  bromide.  These  snatches  of  self-evident  truth  are  interjected 
deliberately  in  “Don  Quixote,”  often,  indeed,  clothed  in  irony  and 
seldom  without  a tinge  of  malice  or  wit..  But  the  remarkable  thing 
in  Cervantes’  book  is  not  their  inoffensive  and  sententious  casual  oc- 
currence, but  inordinate  recurrence  and  accumulation  by  Sancho.^^ 
Don  Quixote  is  astonished  at  Spanish  proverbs  and  fears  some  evil 
end  for  Sancho.  He  would  that  Sancho  might  better  heed  things — 
his  counsels:  “Hear  them  and  remember  them — these  good  counsels.” 
But  Sancho  cannot  remember  special  admonitions.* *  Charged  to  keep 
silence,  a cruel  restless  ordeal,  he  breaks  out  again  and  again,  and 
without  warning,  into  veritable  fits  of  loquacity.  Then  Sancho  is 
in  his  glory.  By  the  time  we  go  with  him  to  “Fraudville,” — his 
“Island”  of  Barataria — these  orgies  of  bromide  have  become  so  auto- 
matic and  impressive  as  to  stand  him  in  stead  of  genuine  administrative 
sagacity.  . . . Still  the  greatest  legacy  or  contribution  of  Cer- 

vantes to  the  stock  phrases  of  the  world  lies  in  the  word  “Quixote”  it- 
self. When  we  speak  of  a Quixote  notion,  a Quixote  enterprise,  or 
Quixote  scruples,  we  know  or  think  we  know  the  flavor.  ...  As 
for  Sancho,  he  lives; — he  lives!  I have  heard  him  on  the  jetty  of  Al- 
geciras,  expostulating  with  his  donkey,  cork-laden  from  the  groves  of 
Andalusia.  I have  watched  him  in  the  still  hours  of  the  breaking  day 
remove  the  traditional  stones  balancing  his  burden  of  cork,  as  if  the 
humor  of  the  world  had  never  questioned  his  rare  good-sense  in  piling 
stones  on  a donkey  twin-packed  with  precious  cork!  I have  met  him 
on  the  Roman  bridge  in  Cordoba,  muttering  as  he  passed  his  “Vaya 
Uste  con  Dios”t  . . . oblivious  of  my  interest  in  his  sturdy  in- 

difference! He  had  not  read  M.  Rostand’s  poem^^  in  which,  in  good 


43.  “Yo  to  asegruro  que  estos  refranes  to  han  de  llevar  un  dia  a la 
horca.”  II.,  Ch.  43. 

* De  que  han  de  servir  si  de  ninguna  me  acuerdo? 
t God  be  with  you. 

44.  Cf.  note  1. 


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Don  Quixote — A Book 

romance,  he  deplores  the  naturalism  of  Sancho  and  his  advent  in  the 
world  of  polite  letters.  But  he  well  knew, — as  I inferred  from  his 
hapless  independence — that  Don  Quixote  his  old  master  . . . 

had  died ! ! ! 

With  all  this,  I have  not  told  you  the  story  of  the  celebrated 
and  discerning  Knight  of  LaMancha — of  his  problem  with  the  sheep ; 
his  self  sacrifice  in  other  fierce  encounters;  of  Lady  Dulcinea  del 
Toboso  and  her  elusive  ladyship’s  subtle  metamorphoses;  of  the  good 
squire  Sancho  and  his  efficient  retainership  in  the  three  sallies  of  his 
impeccable  master ; I have  refrained  from  analyzing  the  racial  qualities 
of  Rocinante  and  the  mute  resignation  of  Dapple — who,  except  for 
their  occasional  outbreaks  of  horse-sense,  are  silent  witnesses  of  the 
human  comedy  enacted  by  their  respective  masters.  I have  not  told 
you  of  the  excellent  precepts,  and  the  sensible  dissertations  which 
abound  in  this  wonderful  book,  but  this  is  not  my  purpose.  I would 
have  you  read  the  book.  A first  hand  and  a larger  acquaintance  with 
“Don  Quixote,”  its  genial  author  and  his  fallen  land,  will  awaken  a 
new  interest  in  literature,  increase  our  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
and  make  world-wide  our  sympathy  for  mankind. — And  yet,  “Don 
Quixote”  has  the  defects  of  its  qualities,  ...  as  the  goldsmiths  say. 
In  this  age  of  vogue  and  of  the  ephemeral,  it  is  enduring;  in  this  age 
of  adulteration,  it  is  unalloyed;  in  this  age  of  dogma  and  of  ready- 
made programs  of  action,  it  is  inconclusive.  Conceived  in  an  age  of 
foreign  imitation,  it  is  real;  produced  in  the  full  of  the  Renaissance, 
it  has  little  of  that  epoch’s  artificial  aim  and  pretentious  style.  Nur- 
tured in  a land  of  repression  it  flowered  not  out,  like  Shakespeare, 
but  in, — with  all  the  misgivings  of  a soul  longing  to  be  free.  It  has 
rather  the  national  complexion  of  its  Spanish  life.  But,  Cervantes, 
tho  distinctly  of  his  times,  touched  many  of  the  problems  of  our  own ; 
yet  his  great  book  has  nothing  truly  constructive,  nothing  wholly  de- 
structive, and  nothing  about  scientific  or  rational  living;  only  craft 
to  meet  craft,  harmless  analysis  and  moral  retrospect.  This  may 
account  for  the  life  of  this  book  in  Spain ; it  may  account  for  the  life 
of  Spain  today.  Cervantes  was  not  an  ideologue  but  a practical 
thinker,  without  the  social  perspective  of  Rousseau.  He  was  too 
much  a creature  of  memory  and  of  books,  like  his  “Don  Quixote.” 
And  yet,  in  its  retrospective  phase,  a large  phase  in  the  sequel,  “Don 
Quixote”  staked  much  of  its  claim  to  enduring  fame.  “Some  men 
live  their  romances  and  some  men  write  them.  It  was  given  Cer- 


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vantes  to  do  both.”^^ — Rousseau  built  upon  his,  and  the  world  still 
learns  from  him.  But  neither  sounds  a note  of  the  actual  for  us,  if 
the  light  of  a modern  message  on  “time,”  for  instance,  be  flashed 
across  their  peaceful  quires.*^®  Time,  hitherto,  had  been  viewed  as 
dawn-dusk  for  fame  to  bask  in.  Now,  a ruthless  modernism  leaves 
a chasm  for  all  comment  on  the  books  of  yesteryear.  Ours  is  life 
on  the  rock-bottom  of  a positive  age.  What  can  it  use  of  the  past? 
To  bridge  across  the  contemplative  gap  separating  Sancho  Panza  and 
the  “Social  Contract”  no  less  than  the  French  Revolution  was  needed. 
Since  then  many  a social  tempest  has  been  irrevocably  engulfed.  How 
can  it  borrow  from  the  past? — The  great  ethical  abstractions  like 
justice,  honor,  and  mercy  are  coexistent  with  life  itself,  and  with 
the  dawn  of  society.  If  there  is  any  evolution,  it  is  so  only  in  degree, 
or  relative  to  time  and  clime, — and  in  the  practice  of  these.  With 
rare  exception  the  literatures  of  the  world  have  been  for  the  elect 
and  of  the  elect ; and  since  the  beginning  of  time,  the  craft  has  prated 
of  virtue  and  ideals  in  pretty  romance  and  lulling  fiction.  There  is 
little,  before  our  day,  of  writing  in  terms  of  energy;  the  old  litera- 
ture is  not  made  of  such  practical  “stuff” ; nor  are  the  essays  of  Ben- 
nett written  for  the  dawn-dusk  of  another  day.  Great  literature  is 
becoming  more  incidental  to  large  purposes  than  it  was  in  Cervantes’ 
day!  But  even  so,  “Don  Quixote”  is  more  than  fine  writing;  yet 
its  theme  is  conventional  except  perhaps  in  his  sympathetic  treatment 
of  Sancho.  The  sordid  traffic  of  his  age  had  not  passed  into  litera- 
ture, either.  And  yet  it  was  the  day  of  commerce  and  booty;  the 
Golden  Age  was  aglow  with  the  glint  of  American  gold  and  drenched 
with  the  blood  of  continents.  It  was  glorious  with  the  Spanish 
idealism  of  the  times  in  terms  of  force,  the  faith,  or  extermination. 
For  the  Spaniard  was  a confirmed  idealist,  tho  of  wrong  ideals.  His 
institutions  stimulated  his  imagination  and  his  zeal;  they  gave  him 
the  incentive  to  preserve  that  ideal  at  any  cost,  even  of  reason,  thru 
life,  and  regardless  of  experience.  This  is  modern,  withal.  What- 
ever else  the  astute  Don  may  do,  he  always  and  inalterably  holds  the 
viewpoint  of  preserving  his  self-respect  to  himself  and  of  showing 
his  better  qualities  to  his  neighbors.  He  thus  met  the  efficiency  test 
in  the  education  of  his  day.  It  didn’t  matter  what  occupation  he 
chose, — (there  is  no  radical  vocationalism  or  work  in  the  education 


45.  James  Pitzmaurice-Kelly’s — Lectures  Given  in  America,  edited  as 
“Chapters  on  Spanish  Literature.”  A.  Constable,  London,  1908. 

46.  Cf.  P.  16 — “How  to  Live  on  24  Hours  a Day,”  by  Arnold  Bennett; 
W.  Doran  & Co.,  New  York. 


Don  Quixote — A Book  223 

of  Don  Quixote)  ; Spanish  blood,  a shrewd  wit,  and  ideals,  and 
forth  into  the  world  he  went ! ! ! ! 

Cervantes  is  an  idealist,  too,  in  his  contemplative  view  of  woman. 
His  Dulcinea  del  Toboso  testifies  to  his  belated  cult  of  Dante  and 
Beatrice.  Her  immaterial  futility  and  personal  nonentity  outreach 
the  bounds  of  his  native  satire.  Man  fulfills  in  his  struggle  with 
earth,  in  his  commerce  with  men,  in  his  winning  of  woman,  and  in 
his  conformity  with  nature, — divinity,  immortality,  and  other  delect- 
able speculations  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  But,  tho  stamped 
with  literary  dilettantism,  the  book  of  Cervantes  is  rescued  from  the 
worst  features  of  this  ism, — over-feminization.  As  in  the  life  about 
us, — and  without  fatalities,  there  are  many  women  in  this  great  book. 
Yet,  it  is  a strange  counterpart  in  the  evolution  of  literary  forms  that 
“Don  Quixote” — one  of  the  first  great  novels  of  modern  times, — 
should  have  no  heroine;  whereas  the  novel  of  to-day  has  elected  her 
in  particular.  But,  what  if  Marcela,  Dorotea,  the  princess  Micomi- 
cona,  Altasidora,  the  countess  Trifaldi,  the  duchess  of  ....  , 
and  his  own  peerless  Dulcinea  del  Toboso  do  not  make  up  a heroine! 
Would  they,  in  the  world  of  his  daily  observation?  Nor  can  ro- 
mance, I venture  to  say,  ever  forgive  Cervantes  this  bit  of  unchivalry 
and  cynicism!  As  for  Sancho’s  wife,  Teresa,  pathetic  in  her  ignor- 
ance, and  clothed  in  homespun,  poverty,  and  native  patience,  she  is 
too  elemental  and  sane  for  pretty  rhetoric.  She  's  the  Spanish  race- 
force;  she  is  the  native  hereditary  stock;  she  is  the  one  abiding  and 
genuinely  great  strain  in  the  Spanish  blood — the  common  strain. 
“Don  Quixote”  is  thus  curiously  enough  a man-book;  there  is  no 
woman  in  the  net-work  of  the  book  so  great  as  to  affect  the  personal 
destiny  of  the  romantic  “Don.”  The  hero  is  not,  as  in  Goethe,  finally 
absorbed  by  the  ever  impending  female: — “das  ewig  weibliche!”  It 
is  a curious  anomaly,  which  here  is  of  interest  chiefly  because  of  the 
recurrence  of  the  same  phenomenon  in  the  literature  ot  the  day.  M. 
Rostand’s  latest  hero  also  emerges  from  the  traditional  order  of 
things  in  romantic  literature,  to  answer  the  call  of  another  destiny, 
not  nature  but  culture;  which  altho  wholly  artificial,  is  not  only  real 
to  him  but  actual,  entrancing,  heroic ! She,  poor  creature  of  fate, 
nonetheless  artificial  for  being  real,  the  creature  of  man  and  of  his 
order,  does  not  emerge  from  the  conventional  frame  of  books;  she 
does  not  transcend  the  limits  of  her  life  even  at  the  expense  of  her 
own  identity,  at  least  not  in  Chantecler!  “Chantecler”  emerges  from 
the  traditional  toils  of  life  and  love  and  sex,  to  pursue  the  light  of 
day  and  the  glory  of  the  world’s  work!  ...  As  if  labor  were  the 


224 


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end  of  man,  and  living  only  an  incident  of  time!  Heroic  fustian  and 
Quixotic  Chantecler;  is  not  Goethe  nearer  nature  than  Rostand, 
romanticist  and  idealist  tho  he  be  in  this  with  Cervantes? 

Verily,  “The  nonsense  of  one  age  becomes  the  wisdom  of  another.”^'^ 
But  it  were  vain  to  sound  the  modern  note  in  “Don  Quixote”  for 
good  or  for  ill,  were  it  not  for  such  manifestations  of  vitality.  At  all 
times,  the  influence  of  this  Spanish  classic  abroad  has  been  felt,  if 
countless  borrowings,  from  translations  in  many  tongues  be  good 
evidence.  These  translations,  all  more  or  less  faithful  to  the  origi- 
nal, continue  to  spread  its  humor  and  contents.  There  are  bits  of 
“Don  Quixote”  in  Shakespeare.^^  Traces  strongly  appear  in  Field- 
ing and  other  novelists;  indeed,  its  influence  in  England  lasted  in  a 
quaint,  satiric  vein, — Cervantesque  or  picaresque,  as  late  as  “Dr.  Syn- 
tax” and  “Mr.  Pickwick.”  This  influence  is  found  in  French  writers 
from  Scarron  to  LeSage. — They  owe  much  to  Cervantes’  genial  and 
ready  cooperation.  Dauder’s  hero  faced  his  lion.  . . . Other 

writers  of  our  own  day  owe  him  no  less.  Jean  Richepin  has  staged 
his  wonderworld;  and  M.  Rostand,  with  racial  intuition,  once  ex- 
claimed : 

“Je  I’ai  lu, 

Et  me  decouvre  au  nom  de  cet  hurluberlu.” 

— Cyrano  de  Bergerac,  Act  II,  Sc.  VII. 

Ultimately,  I do  not  know  that  the  author  of  “Don  Quixote” 
aimed  at  resucing  philosophy,  science,  and  much  less  religion,  from 
the  theological  discipline  of  the  times.  He  has  few  philosophical 
generalizations ; his  manner  is  perfectly  analytic.  He  discusses 
neither  principles,  nor  systems,  nor  personalities.  He  airs  few  opin- 
ions; he  rather  offers  abundant  materials  on  the  factors  at  work  in 
the  social  operations  of  his  day.  It  must  be  remembered  that  Cer- 
vantes was  not  a student  but  a soldier,  discriminating  rather  than 
critical,  not  a constructive  thinker  but  a musing  philosopher;  tho  a 
university  man,  he  was  not  a learned  pedant  but  a man  of  letters — 
in  a new  acceptation  of  the  term, — a writer  of  polite  literature,  with 
a moral  aim  as  the  censorship  of  the  times  has  it.  However,  it  can- 
not be  denied  that  in  the  things  of  the  mind  (weighed  by  intelli- 
gence) he  favors  free  inquiry  and  open  research,  champions  inde- 

47.  Bracebridg-e  Hall,  illustrated  by  Caldecott,  ”A  Literary  Antiquary, 
by  Washington  Irving,  P.  79. 

48.  Cf.  Espana  Moderna  (March,  1911),  for  a readable  general  article 
by  James  Pitzmaurice-Kelly,  on  “Literary  Relations,” — which  touches  on 
“Don  Quixote,”  its  author,  and  Shakespeare; — “Relaciones  entre  las  litera- 
tures Espanola  y Inglesa,”  por  Jaime  Pitzmaurice-Kelly, 


225 


Don  Quixote — A Book 

pendent  judgment  and  free  will — as  far  as  such  was  possible  under 
the  Inquisition;  he  holds  for  the  authority  of  human  reason,  and  of 
the  animal  life.  At  his  best,  the  interest  of  Cervantes  is  more  bound 
up  with  things  than  with  ideas,  with  social  intelligence  than  with 
philosophy.  Unlike  Dante,  who  sees  better  than  he  thinks  (for  Dante 
thought  in  the  abstract  terms  of  medieval  philosophy),  Cervantes 
thinks  better  than  he  sees,  however  paradoxical  this  may  seen.  He 
is  Spanish  tradition  personified  in  its  metaphysical  nullity  and  had 
little  commerce  with  speculative  thought.  No;  he  \vas  not  like 
Dante — of  whom  Paleologue  says:  “Sa  pensee  aime  a evoluer  dans  le 
monde  suprasensible  en  dehors  du  temps  et  de  I’espace,  dans  le 
domaine  des  realites  absolues  et  des  verites  premieres. Cervantes 
would  not  have  appreciated,  perhaps  not  understood,  the  speculations 
of  Dante,  the  scientific  curiosity  of  Bacon,  or  of  Galileo.  Cervantes 
lacked  the  speculative  faculty  and  the  sense  of  esthetic  abstractions. 
He  entertained  no  misgivings  as  to  the  relative  and  the  absolute;  he 
knew  however  the  personal  problem  of  daily  living.  Of  time  and 
space,  not  a word ; on  being  and  destiny,  no  new  thought.  Cervantes 
was  a psychologist  in  his  own  way.  He  was  little  concerned  with 
destiny  since  that  bulwark  of  speculative  thought  had  passed  from 
philosophy  to  religion.  In  the  medieval  alembic,  destiny  had  become 
fumes  which  the  sixteenth  century  Spaniard  presently  transmuted 
into  fame,  ...  or  theological  smoke!  ...  In  the  realm  of 
thought,  the  church  had  always  looked  with  a jealous  eye  upon  the 
inquirer,  the  innovator.^®  Nevertheless,  the  author  of  “Don  Quix- 
ote” was  thinking  but  his  thinking  was  actuated  by  the  more  imme- 
diate concerns  of  modern  living.  The  father  of  “Sancho  Panza,”  tho 
of  his  times,  announces  the  present  day  sociologist. 

Altho  he  says  little  of  the  leading  institutions  of  his  day(  and 
for  a cause),  it  requires  no  rare  penetration  to  discover  what  Cer- 
vantes thought  of  the  Spanish  government  and  of  the  Romish  Church. 
Cervantes  substitutes  the  native  shrewdness  of  the  unwashed  Sancho 
for  the  perverted  statecraft  of  the  gilded  courtier.  About  the  church, 
unprogressive  and  parasitic,  corrupt  without  hope  of  reform,  “Don 
Quixote”  is  reticent.  Divided  between  his  allegiance  to  the  state 
and  his  allegiance  to  the  church,  his  interest  and  prejudices  on  one 
side  and  his  interests  and  superstitions  on  the  other,  Cervantes  dis- 


49.  Cf.  pp.  248-9 — Maurice  Palgologrue’s  Dante;  Essai  sur  son  caractfire 
et  son  gremis,  3rd  edition,  Paris,  1909. 

50.  Cf.  Castilian  Days,  pp.  47-48,  by  John  Hay,  quoted  by  C.  F.  Thwingr 
in  “Universities  of  the  World” — The  University  of  Madrid.  The  Mac- 
millan Company,  1911. 


226 


The  Quarterly  Journal 


cerned  that  the  church  might  not  long  remain  the  center  of  life  in 
Spain  and  that  with  the  advent  of  modern  science  no  enlightened 
society  (except  perhaps  in  America)  would  again  nucleate  around  a 
religion.  And  it  is  a striking  illustration  of  the  intolerance  of  the 
older  generations  for  the  progress  and  changing  view  point  of  the 
new  that  Cervantes  is  not  Spain’s  national  hero  instead  of  “Don 
Quixote.”  But  this  was  a delicate  and  burning  question  in  Spain. 
It  is  still  arming  the  nations  of  the  earth.  So  many  of  the  things 
that  really  matter  and  so  many  of  the  worthy  aims  of  life  are  bound 
up  with  this  instituted  superstition  that  it  behooved  the  writer  anc 
thinker  to  proceed  with  caution.  Cervantes  did  so;  the  fact  that 
his  great  work  ignores  the  church  as  a Spanish  institution  proves  how 
much  he  discredited  its  pretenses.  Only  a survey  of  the  literature 
following  “Don  Quixote”  shows  how  much  of  this  old  fustian  he 
brushed  aside  and  how  much  more  of  it  remains.  . . . No;  Cer- 

vantes was  not  Dante,  altho  like  Dante  at  unguarded  moments.  The 
Spaniard  holds  a lower  plane  of  idea,  fortunately  perhaps  for  the  peo- 
ple of  Spain.  Cervantes’  book  was  long  the  only  source  of  homely 
good,  in  a bigoted  and  dogmatic  land.  To  this  day  it  supplies  the 
average  Spaniard  with  native  sense  and  mother  wit.  And  for  this, 
it  could  perhaps  afford  to  hold  nothing  of  the  mental  activity  of  its 
age — its  science,  its  invention,  its  industry,  its  trade,  its  history,  its 
knowledge, — and  deal  only  with  its  book-Romance  and  its  ruinous 
social  madness. 

Withal  the  “Don  Quixote”  of  Cervantes  is  not  a universal 
book  altho  its  appeal  is  quite  general.  Like  all  the  great  books  of 
the  world,  it  is  essentially  unmoral — ^so  far  as  advocating  any  definite 
system  of  living  is  concerned.  Its  materials  are  welded  into  an  in- 
strument intended  to  exhibit  conduct  struggling  between  character 
and  institutions.  And  it  does  this  so  effectively,  so  abundantly,  and 
with  so  keen  a sense  of  the  humor  of  a discredited  nature,  social  and 
physical,  as  to  make  it  a matter  of  indifference  to  the  average  reader 
that  Cervantes’  “Don  Quixote”  did  not  compass  the  whole  of  mental 
activity,  the  whole  of  social  perversity,  or  the  whole  of  natural  stu- 
pidity!. . . . 

I conclude  with  a few  helps  on  reading  “Don  Quixote.”  They 
may  not  come  amiss;  for,  as  this  good  book  has  it, — no  wise  struc- 
ture can  forever  stand  on  a poor  foundation.  . . . 

^ « 


Don  Quixote — A Book 


227 


— “Mas  sabeel  necio  en  su  casa  que  el  cuerdo  en  la  agena.” 
...  * “Don  Quixote,”  Vol.  II,  Ch.  XLIII. 

Ill 

“DON  QUIXOTE”  should  be  read  at  thirty,  says  M.  Mazel, 
an  omnivorous  reader  of  France®^  in  a curious  book  entitled  “What 
to  read  in  a life  time.”  Cervantes  should  be  read  along  with 
Shakespeare,  Milton,  Goethe,  Calderon,  Rabelais,  Montaigne,  Vol- 
taire, Rousseau,  Moses,  and  Plutarch.  . . . These  constitute  his 

second  period  of  a reader’s  life,^^  between  the  ages  of  twenty-five  and 
thirty-five ! 

I cannot  resist  quoting^^  in  M.  Mazel’s  simple  French  three 
passages  of  more  than  passing  felicity:  i.  He  says  of  the  book: 

“Don  Quichotte  est  un  des  chef s-d ’oeuvres  de  I’esprit  humain ; I’enfant 
y rit  aux  eclats,  I’homme  y sourit  pensif;  et  le  vieillard  revient  s’y 
rechauffer  en  se  frottant  les  mains.”  2.  Of  its  language  and  its 
ready  mastery  (for  a Frenchman):  “le  text  original  est  preferable 
encore  . . . ignorat-on  I’espagnol  . . . des  le  troisieme  jour 

on  devinera  presque  tout,  et  des  la  fin  du  mois,  on  le  lira  couramment, 
Faites-en  I’experience  vous-  memes,  si  vous  n’avez  pas  appris  la  langue 
qu’il  faut  parler  a Dieu” ! ! ! And  of  the  greatest  significance  for  the 
average  reader  of  “Don  Quixote,”  he  then  adds:  3.  “L’oeuvre  de 
Cervantes  est  si  lumineuse  qu’on  peut  se  dispenser  de  lire  un  de  ces 
guides  critiques  qui  sont  si  utiles  pour  Dante,  Goethe,  et  Shakes- 
peare.” ...  I am  glad  to  have  Monsieur  Mazel’s  corrobora- 
tion in  things  so  pertinent;  and  I hope  that  if  the  materials  which 
follow  do  not  fit  his  texts  to  the  letter,  other  wayfarers  in  the 
Quixotic  world  will  rise  up,  as  in  Dante,  to  bear  witHness  to  my  ob- 
servations. 

I.  No  one,  I trust,  approaches  “Don  Quixote”  in  the  atti- 
tude of  mind  requisite  for  the  “Divine  Comedy.”  Each  of  these 
masterpieces  of  literature  was  a man  before  it  was  a book,  a life 
before  it  was  a monument,  and  a human  soul  before  it  was  a national 
asset!  What  I have  said  regarding  “Don  Quixote”  must  have  re- 
vealed as  much; — a life  allegiance  and  a life  preparation,  to  meet  a 
life, — no  less,  is  the  requisite  in  the  realm  of  great  works. 

* The  fool  knows  more  in  his  own  house,  you  will  agree,  than  the 
wise  man  in  another’s — Proverb  43  of  Ormsby’s  collection — Appendix  I. 

51.  Henri  Mazel, — Ce  qu’ll  faut  lire  dans  sa  vie,  pp.  104  ff;  Paris,  Soc. 
du  Mercure  de  France,  M.  C.  M.  V.  I. 

52.  Op.  cit. — Index  lists. 

53.  Op.  cit.  pp.  104  ff. 


228 


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2.  I do  not  hesitate  here  to  recognize  two  classes  of  people 
in  the  world  of  books, — the  reader  and  the  student.  The  great  hope 
of  writers  like  M.  Mazel, — and  often  their  one  triumph,  is  to  special- 
ize a general  reader  and  to  throw  upon  his  brow  the  burden  of  the 
student.  He  will  then  read  “Don  Quixote”  in  the  original  and 
will  thank  M.  Mazel  for  having  once  heard  of  “the  language  of 
the  Gods.” 

The  student  will  find  Ochoa’s,®^  all  in  Spanish,  a handy  one 
volume  edition.  Personally,  I prefer  the  David  Nutt  edition.^^  I 
like  to  read  “Don  Quixote”  in  an  edition  to  fit.  . . . “There  is,” 
as  Mr.  Arnold  Bennett  says,^®  “a  distinct  moral  value  in  size.”  . . . 
Two  generous  tomes  correctly  edited — original  text,  good  print,  sub- 
stantial paper — bespeak  more  adequately  the  personality  of  “Don 
Quixote,”  than  any  skilled  volume  of  pigmy  size.  Nor  do  I favor  a 
graet  edition  in  cheap  array.  The  “Rivadeneyra”^'^  (Aribau,  Mad- 
rid, 1846),  tho  a national  monument  indispensable  to  the  student  of 
Spanish  literature,  is  not  booked  as  it  deserves.  Its  taste  is  wrong, 
and  its  use  is  not  inspiring  in  spite  of  its  august  scholarship!  Nor 
was  the  Rivadeneyra  intended  for  the  export  trade  like  the  Spanish 
books  of  our  own  publishers.  The  Rivadeneyra  is  a national  mis- 
fortune, not  a business  crime.  Our  American  houses, — caterers  con- 
fessedly to  the  South  American  market,  have  done  little  better^^  for 
the  reading  people  at  their  mercy  in  editions  of  the  great  ancestral 
hero.  Nor  is  it  meet  that  I can  lean  more  heavily  than  Burton 
Holmes  on  the  “Quixotics”  of  American  business  today  1^®  If  the 


54.  (a)  Don  Quijote,  Ochoa  edition,  with  a prefatory  essay  (1852)  on 

Cervantes’  life  and  writings,  pp.  VI-XL,  by  George  Ticknor,  author  of 
the  History  of  Spanish  Literature,  etc.  . . . D.  Appleton  y Compania, 

N.  T.,  1853.  An  American  edition  reprinted  until  the  type  is  somewhat 
worn;  all  in  Spanish;  one  volumn,  12  mo.,  listed  as  No.  76  in  Appendix 
III,  of  Ormsby’s  Translation  (Crowell). 

(b  Another  American  edition,  all  in  Spanish,  in  two  volumes,  is 
that  of  Lee  and  Shepard,  with  the  “Prdlogo”  of  Clemencin, — Notas  his- 
tdricas,  grammdticales,  y criticas,  por  la  Academia  Hspanola, — sur  in- 
dividuos  de  ndmero  Pellicer,  Arrieta,  y Clemencin, — a rather  noted  Span- 
ish commentator  of  the  old  school,  Boston,  1867.  Possibly  a reprint  of 
Brockhaus,  Leipzig,  1866.  A convenient  edition  but  little  better  than 
other  worn  American  editions. 

55.  T.  y C.  Constable,  Edinburgo,  Impresores  de  CAmara  de  su  M!a- 

jestad;  David  Nott,  publishing  editor.  Londres,  1898.  — This  valuable 

edition  was  prepared  by  two  modern  scholars,  the  late  John  Ormsby  and 
Mr.  James  Pitzmaurice-Kelly,  who  wrote  the  Introduction,  pp.  XV-LVIII. 
— Menioned  in  the  latter’s  short  History  of  Spanish  Literature — Biblio- 
graphical Appendix. 

56.  Mental  Efficiency — Books,  the  Physical  Side;  P.  75,  George  H. 
Doran  Company,  N.  Y.,  1911. 

57.  Biblioteca  de  Autores  Espanoles,  M.  Rivadeneyra,  publishing  edi- 
tor, with  the  assistance  of  the  Scholars  of  Spain.  Madrid,  about  1864. — 
Contains  nearly  100  volumes  in  large  8mo  size. 

58.  Cf.  Ochoa,  note  4a,  P.  IV.,  Advertencia  (1865). 

59.  “With  Burton  Holmes — Thru  the  Land  of  Tomorrow,”  pp.  11-12, 
Ladies’  Home  Journal,  February,  1912.  The  Curtis  Publishing  Co.,  Phila- 
delphia. 


229 


Don  Quixote — A Book 

somewhat  archaic  forms  of  the  original  hinder  the  student’s  progress, 
an  edition  for  schools  may  prove  a good  introduction  to  this  classic. 
Parts  of  it  have  been  carefully  edited  and  annotated — the  ever  fasci- 
nating story  of  Cervantes’  captivity  among  the  Turks,®®  and  his  won- 
derful escape — quite  authentic ; — the  alert,  opening  chapters  of  the  first 
sally®^ — immortal  chapters;  and  as  much  more  is  in  promise  as  in 
store.®2  American  scholarship  is  on  the  wing.  To  the  lull  follow- 
ing the  initiative  of  Ticknor  in  Spanish,  Longfellow  and  Norton  in 
Italian,  and  Lowell,  also  in  the  modern  languages  (it  is  odd  to  think 
of  these  literary  lights  as  professors  in  Harvard  College)  has  suc- 
ceeded an  epoch  of  varied  scholarship,  of  vast  editorial  undertakings,®^ 
and  of  live,  literary  criticism.  This  intellectual  production  bids  fair 
to  outlast  the  present  day.  The  younger  scholars,  too,  must  forth  to 
their  laurels;  they  crash  into  wide-open  doors,  according  to  a great 
French  savant,®^  but  it  is  the  American  way,  and  they  reach  the 
field.®® 

The  specialist,  interested  in  sources  and  influences,  fond  of  re- 
search or  controversy,  and  able  to  read  several  languages,  will  find 
articles  in  the  learned  and  popular  periodicals  of  the  literary  world. 
The  work  of  the  Italian  Garrone  is  attracting  attention.  He  has 
taken  “Don  Quixote”  for  a series  of  studies  of  no  little  interest  to 
Italian  and  Spanish  readers ; — ^while  tracing  its  course  to  Italy  he  deftly 
cleaves  the  lucid  madness  of  Don  Quixote  from  the  murky  wrath  of 
Orlando;®®  in  the  work  of  a Paduan,®"^  he  finds  the  delectable  story 
of  the  “Rival  Asses,”  strayed  or  stolen  from  Cervantes’  “Don 
Quixote”  (Part  I)  . . . on  a brief  excursion  into  Sicilian  epic 

poetry  with  Meli  of  Palermo,  he  meets  Sancho  now  disciple  of  Vol- 
taire.®^ . . . No,  not  all  emprises  could  the  great  Manchegan  exe- 


60.  El  Cautivo,  an  Episode  from  “Don  Quixote”  (part  I.,  Chs.  39-42), 
edited  for  Schools  by  Eduardo  Tolra  y Pomes;  D.  Appleton  & Co.,  1905. 

61.  Selections  from  Don  Quixote  (more  especially  the  “prolog-o”  with 
opening-  chapters  of  Part  I.;  edited  for  collegres  by  Prof.  J.  D.  M.  Ford, 
D.  C.  Heath  & Co.,  1909. 

62.  Part  I of  Don  Quixote,  long-  promised  by  Professor  Todd,  is  eag-erly 
awaited.  The  “Noveljas  Ejemplores”  of  Cervantes,  are  in  the  press. 

63.  Professor  Ford,  tireless  editor  and  scholar,  is  at  work  on  a Span- 
ish-Eng-lish  Etymolog-ical  Dictionary,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  American 
Scholarship. 

64.  M.  Paul  Meyer, — Comptes  Rendus,  Romania,  1906,  giving  an  esti- 
mate of  the  work  of  our  universities. 

65:  Cf.  The  Romanic  Review  (U.  S.  A.)  in  its  fourth  year;  it  de- 
serves special  mention  not  only  for  its  important  bibliographies,  but 
also  for  promising  articles  on  Spanish  and  .Italian  subjects.  Published 
by  the  Columbia  University  Press,  New  York. 

66.  “El  Orlando  Furioso”  considerado  como  fuente  del  “Quijote,”  by 
Marco  A.  Garrone;  La  Espana  Moderna,  pp.  114-144.  Madrid,  March  1911. 

67.  “El  Asno  poema  heroico-comico  de  Carlo  Dottori  y El  Quijote,” 
por  M.  A.  Garrone;  same  review,  pp.  60-73,  August,  1911, 

68.  El  “Don  Quijote”  Siciliano  y el  “Don  Quijote”  Espanol,  por  M.  A, 
Garrone;  same  review,  pp.  132-158,  September,  1911.  The  Sicilian  title 
is  “Don  Chisciotti  e Sanciu  Panza,”  P.  135,  foot-note. 


230 


The  Quarterly  Journal 


cute,  nor  be  anticipated  by  him.  Other  times,  other  heroes  of  the 
Quixotic  Guest.  New  times  require  new  chapters,  and  new  mate- 
rials are  tempting.  ...  So  thought  Meli  of  Palermo.  The  world, 
said  Emerson,  is  always  waiting  f r its  poet ; society,  history  shows,  has 
always  hailed  a new  jester.  America,  leaning  now  on  Sancho,  now 
on  Quixote,  is  creating  an  immortal  work  on  its  “Mighty  Hunter,” 
like  France  her  “Tartarian,”  Mexico  its  “Don  Peon,”  or  modern 
Germany  that  “Hoch  der  Kaiser”  king  of  Professor  Knatschke’s! 

3.  M.  Mazel  is  right.  The  way  to  make  the  acquaintance  of 
an  author  is  to  read  him,  in  the  original  or  in  translation, — and  with- 
out commentary!  But,  curious  readers,  not  wholly  unsuspicious  of 
local  allusions,  and  other  “indiscretions,”  will  seek  the  counsel,  or 
the  direction  of  those  who,  since  its  inception,  have  lived  much  with 
a great  classic.  There  are  intimate  recesses  to  a bo, ok;  they  open 
only  at  the  sesame  of  the  elect.  It  is  a pleasure,  moreover,  to  ex- 
change notes  with  writers  who  have  visited  the  monuments  of  liter- 
ature;— some  have  left  us  their  impressions,  others  their  wisdom;  a 
few  have  made  discoveries,  a fact,  a thought,  an  overlooked  detail, 
things  slight  and  light,  but  each  a boon  to  the  student.  Amateurs 
or  artists,  poets  and  musicians,  scholars  and  explorers,  seek  a new 
reality  or  open  new  vistas.  Their  humblest  gift  is  worth  having  to 
show  the  attitude  of  mind  or  the  artistic  spirit  in  which  each  has 
communed  with  the  genius  of  the  great.  But  the  introduction  to  a 
great  book  should  be  private,  and  “Don  Quixote”  has  had  the  suffrage 
of  a world  of  readers,  and  thinkers,  and  critics!  “Don  Quixote”  should 
be  first  read  without  vademecum,  in  the  splendor  of  one’s  best  years, 
in  the  privacy  of  one’s  own  mind.  ...  As  when  first  seeing  the 
Alhambra,  a talkative  guide  is  hardly  heard  for  the  wonders  offered 
the  eye,  so  is  the  reader  too  engrossed  with  Cervantes’  world  to  heed 
cicerone,  or  critic.  Yet,  the  time  comes  when  you  willingly  fare  over 
your  footsteps  with  a friendly  help  or  a critic’s  eye.  You  linger  ab- 
sorbed in  each  detail  or  scrutinize  each  learned  remark.  Many  a 
pilgrim  to  Cordoba  has  wandered  thru  its  magic  mosque,  as  thru  a 
maze  of  mottled  arches  and  stained  columns,  only  to  issue  forth 
hungry  for  the  tale  of  each  bloody  shadow  in  this  coercive  shrine. 

. . . Then,  the  light  of  high  noon  dispels  the  alluring  mist  and 

compels  the  genii  of  obscurity  to  yield  the  secrets  of  its  architectural 
charm.  So  with  a great  book;  unless  the  commentary  be  seasonable 
and  reasonable,  the  forest  may  not  be  seen  for  the  trees,  the  mirific 
text  for  the  notes,  or  the  arabesques  on  the  outer  walls  of  the  Cor- 
dovan mosque  for  the  medieval  plaster  of  a bigot  hand! 


231 


Don  Quixote — A Book 

But,  if  the  student  of  “Don  Quixote”  may  dispense  with  learned 
commentators  from  Averrhors®^  to  Clemencia,  he  may  not  wisely 
eschew  historians.  It  is  essential  that  he  know  something  of  Spanish 
society  in  the  days  of  Cervantes  to  understand  its  power  and  glamor, 
its  economic  order  and  national  temper,  its  laws,  institutions,  and 
customs.  The  fearless  historian  has  laid  low  many  a live  bogey  and 
resurrected  many  a long  dead  truth.  I have  sought  his  aid  in  my 
own  work  for  the  contrast  between  the  book  lore  of  XVI  Century 
Spain  and  the  awful  reality  of  the  nation’s  bloody  sway.  There  is 
no  better  way  to  test  fact  and  fancy,  the  old  insistence  of  romance 
over  reality,  and  the  ethical  nullity  of  Spanish  letters  when  Cervantes 
took  up  his  pen.  In  these  pages,  as  you  know,  I have  often  invoked 
the  help  of  Hume,  and  Kelly,"^®  of  Clarke,”^^  and  of  Lea.  In  them, 
you  will  find,  I suspect,  the  ultimate  raison  d’etre  of  “Don  Quixote”! 
Now,  history  is  severe  work.  The  reader  who  does  not  borrow  his 
opinions,  but  forms  them  for  himself  may  yet  care  for  good  writing 
outside  of  formal  history.  He  will  be  unconsciously  edified  and 
often  refreshed  in  spirit,  if  he  thirst  for  the  best  things,  by  those  who 
have  left  imperishable  works  on  the  hospitable  margin  of  the  mas- 
ter’s canvas.  We  have  the  priceless  essays  of  Woodberry,  Ellis,*^^ 
and  Kelly'^^;  the  somewhat  aged  but  large  work  of  Schlegel  and 
Sismondi;  of  Philarete  Chasles,'^^  and  Puibusque'^® ; the  reviews  of 
Merimee,'^'^  and  Ste-Beuve;  the  able  critiques  of  Morel-Fatio  and 
Martinenche,  of  Menendez  y Pelayo,  and  Menendez  Pidal ; the  trans- 


69.  The  XII.  Century  Cordovan  commentator  of  Aristotle,  named  here 
facetiously. 

70.  James  Pitzmaurice-Kelly,  A History  of  Spanish  Literature,  D. 
Appleton  and  Company,  New^  York  and  London,  1910.  Ch.  IX.,  pp.  227  ff., 
interestingly  discusses  “Don  Quixote”  and  its  author.  Cf.  also  the  art. 
Cervantes  prepared  by  him  in  the  recent  edition  of  the  Britannica  (1911). 

71.  H.  Butler  Clarke,  M.A.,  author  of  “Spanish  Literature,”  an  ele- 
mentary handbook,  London,  Swan,  Sonnenschein  & Co.;  The  Macmillan 
Company,  New  York,  1893; — Cervantes,  Ch.  XIII.  This  work  early  directed 
my  attention  to  Spanish  literature.  His  long  awaited  History  of  Spain, 
completed  before  his  death,  has  just  been  given  to  the  public. 

72.  Cf.  Great  Writers.  I — Cervantes,  pp.  3-39.  The  McClure  Co.,  N. 
Y.,  M C M VII.  This  book  contains  a series  of  well-nourished  essays  by 
Prof.  G.  E.  Woodberry,  of  Columbia  University,  dean  of  American  critics 
and  the  father  of  many  of  our  younger  American  scholars  and  writers. 

73.  For  his  excellent  study  of  “Don  Quixote,”  cf.  ch.  VIII.  Besides 
the  Introduction,  Chapters  II.,  III.,  and  XVI.,  are  the  most  thought-com- 
pelling in  this  noteworthy  book.  Havelock  Ellis:  The  Soul  of  Spain; 
Houghton,  Mifflin  & Co.,  Boston  & New  York,  1908. 

74.  Cf.  note  70. 

75.  Chasles,  Philarete,  Works,  Paris,  1847, — another  entrancing  critic 
of  the  old  school. 

76.  Puibusque,  Adolphe  de,  Historei  comparee  des  Litteratures  Espag- 
noles  et  Francaise;  2 vols.,  Paris,  1843.  Old,  of  course,  and  written  before 
the  “document  took  the  place  of  endless  argument.” 

77.  “Portraits  Historiques  et  LittSraires”  by  Prosper  Merim6e,  art. 
Cervantes  (1826),  pp.  1-55.  Paris,  Calmann  L6vi.  — Contains  readable  ma- 
terials with  interesting  side-lights.  Note  especially  what  is  said  of  the 
“Buscapie” — a prospectus  or  “dodger”  which  Cervantes  is  said  to  have 
gotten  up  “to  get  a footing”  as  it  were,  on  the  book-market  (P.  33),  and 
which  gave  “Don  Quixote”  its  vogue,  according  to  M6rim§e.  This  “Bus- 
capie” was  once  a thing  eagerly  sought  and  discussed  by  bibliophiles. 


232 


The  Quarterly  Journal 

lation  of  Ormsby'^^;  the  illustrations  of  Dore,  and  Vierge— to  be  sur- 
passed only  by  Dulac,  or  some  inspired  “Cubist”;  we  have  a drama 
by  Richepin,'^^  an  opera  by  Massenet,*®  the  celebrated  poems  by  Ros- 
tand, an  occasional  lecture*^  a casual  short  story  by  a coy  neophyte; 
mount  have  been  devoutedly  followed,  and  no  travel*^  is  in  vain  in 
— opinion,  judgment,  comment,  poetry,  music,  art,  what  humble  prism 
is  not  aflame  at  a touch  of  the  great  light?  The  early  haunts  of 
Cervantes  are  visited,  the  sierra  explored,  and  the  tracks  of  his  lank 
this  dear  land  of  the  Romantic  Guest!  Withal  the  old  and  the  new 
linger  side  by  side.  A latter-day  exploit  of  “Don  Quixote,”**  tho 
a clever  exposition  of  the  most  sordid  traffic  of  the  sentiments,  is 
only  a modern  version  of  the  Quixotics  of  the  old  “Spanish  Fraud.” 

. . . And,  as  if  to  repeat  history,  a serial  portion  of  the  “Adven- 

tures of  Nick  Carter”  follows  close  in  the  same  periodical  after  the^ 
style  of  the  first  edition  of  “Don  Quixote.”  If  not  on  a fool’s  er- 
rand in  old  Spain,  the  modern  Don  Quixote  remains  on  the  hacienda 
of  his  ancestry; — a versatile  American  found  him  recently  as  “Don 
Peon  de  Mexico”*^ — unaged  and  unchanged  in  the  heart  of  the  Sierra 
Madre  1 

I close  with  a page  of  memoranda — brief  “Catalog  of  Ships” 
that  freight  the  burden  of  this  great  book: 


Volume  One 


Don  Quixote  learns  presently  that  matter  exists,  that  a battle 
is  two-sided,  in  its  victims,  at  least.  He  finds  that  Spanish  maidens 
do  not  wander  about  unaccompanied  and  in  radiant  virginity,  up  to 
their  eightieth  year.  Odd  discovery,  indeed,  in  the  land  of  the  “reja” 
and  of  the  “duegna”  and  still  the  home  of  chaperons  and  barred  win- 
dows! The  ladies  of  the  coach  are  certain  that  their  noble  rescuer 
has  learned  his  chivalry  from  a book;  they  cannot  at  once  follow  his 


78.  Cf.  Title-page  of  this  article  (*). 

79.  Jean  Richepin, — Don  Quichotte;  a la  Com^die  Frangaise,  Oct.  16, 
1905.  Paris,  Charpentier  et  Fasquelle,  1905.  This  delightful  drama  in 
verses  is  full  of  the  glee  and  go  of  the  original.  But  M.  Adophe  Brisson, 
— Portraits  Intimes,  Vol.  II.,  Paris,  1896, — thinks  that  the  play  should 
work  out  the  philosophy  of  “Don  Quixote”  rather  than  its  incidents. 

80.  “Don  Quichotte,”  an  opera  by  Massenet,  first  given  at  the  Casino 
of  Montecarlo,  early  in  1910. 

81.  “Don  Quichotte,  Sancho  et  Nous,”  a lecture  by  M.  Edmond  Harau- 
court,  pp.  253-271,  Journal  de  rUniversit§  des  Annales,  Paris,  Feb.  25, 
1909;  with  illustrations. 

82.  “Spanish  Highways  and  Byways,”  by  Catherine  Lee  Bates;  The 
Macmillan  Co.,  N.  Y.,  M C M. 

83.  “Lapostrera  Salida  de  Don  Quixote,”  by  Luis  Anton  del  Olmet,  pp. 

3-13,  of  “El  Lector” — Magazine  Mensuel  de  Cuentos  Cortos,  Ciudad  de 
Mejico,  1912.  , 

84.  “Political  Mexico  Today,”  by  Frank  Nason,  in  Tale  Review,  pp. 
586-600,  July,  1912. 


233 


Don  Quixote — A Book 

meaning.  Don  Quixote  and  Sancho  Panza  show  that  when  they 
depend  on  the  social  habit  for  justice,  and  other  living  common  places, 
they  are  normal  and  sound.  The  goat  herds  do  not  understand 
chivalry  talk  either.  They  stand  amazed  at  the  speech  on  the  “Golden 
Age.”  The  need  of  some  acquaintance  with  the  Italian  Epics,  to 
understand  “Don  Quixote”  now  dawns  upon  the  reader ; some  knowl- 
edge of  the  Italian  Pastoral  also  is  useful.  The  discourse  on  Arms 
and  Letters  (Ch.  XXXVIII)  reveals  that  the  famous  autobiography 
of  the  “Captive”  (Chs.  XXXIX — XLII),  and  the  notable  enchant- 
ment of  Don  Quixote  follow  betimes  among  the  lavished  treasures 
of  the  first  part.  The  point  of  the  pen  is  capped  with  the  steel  of 
the  sword;  that  all  the  institutions  of  peace  are  backed  by  the  pro- 
fession of  arms! 

Volume  Two 

The  retrospective  and  introspective  nature  of  the  leisurely  se- 
quel of  Cervantes  leads  to  the  suspicion  that  the  spring  of  this  mighty 
work  broke  during  the  lapse  of  years.  But  the  second  part  is  nonethe- 
less rich  in  materials.  The  reader  will  become  conscious  of  a change 
of  social  environment;  he  will  now  meet  the  rascals  of  high  life. 
There  are  indications  that  the  polite  society  of  Spain  used  bad  oaths. 
Don  Quixote  shows  the  hot  temper  of  the  Spaniard  in  evidence  thru- 
out  his  book;  even  our  fearless  knight  is  uncompromising,  has  not 
the  conciliating  spirit  of  the  true  reformer.  The  poor  vie  with  the 
rich  in  the  national  thirst  for  power.  Cervantes  now  turns  to  elegant 
writing;  he  talks  over,  reviews,  or  recalls  the  tales  he  has  told  in  his 
first  volume;  but  all  his  art  cannot  overcome  the  reader’s  objection 
to  so  much  time,  and  ink,  and  copy,  and  energy  spent  in  waiting  for 
inspiration.  Then  idleness  breeds  quarrels;  Spanish  punctiliousness 
makes  Cervantes  disputatious — have  priests  a right  to  offend?  But 
this  is  dangerous  ground  for  a layman,  and  particularly  so  for  a 
writer  of  mere  literature.  It  is  much  safes  to  philosophize  and 
moralize  than  to  inquire  or  criticize.  Watch  the  puppet  show  (Ch. 
XXVI)  but  don’t  break  the  puppets!  Watch  your  writing — ^watch 
your  manners — ^we  are  launched  now  on  a veritable  manual  of  good 
breeding  and  of  good  government  for  the  prospective  mayor  of  Bara- 
taria!  The  sin  of  digression — characteristic  of  part  I is  now  cen- 
sured in  part  II.  Then  come  fine  things  on  poverty;  on  usurped 
titles;  on  eating;  on  the  devil;  on  freedom;  on  omens.  I might  as 
well  have  given  another  hundred  pages  to  Sancho’s  “Book  of  the 
Courtier”!  A pastoral  entertainment  interrupts  the  grave  monitor 


234 


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who  presently  resumes  on  the  fashions  at  court;  on  truth  telling;  on 
love.  Here,  Cervantes  comes  to  life  again  to  spite  Avellaneda!  And 
Don  Quixote  goes  not  to  Saragossa;  he  spurs  incontinent  for  Barce- 
lona ! ! ! 

But  this  spur  to  action  is  a mere  will  o’  the  whisp ; a lucid  mind 
betokens  a purposeful  life  and  the  old  hero  was  trained  in  another 
school.  He  plunges  back  into  the  madness  of  books.  His  dream  of 
chivalry  is  over ; he  has  exploded  it,  and  himself  with  it ; but  he  can- 
not live  without  a dream.  The  pastoral  folly  of  the  times  is  ready 
to  change  the  meddlesome  knight  into  a sighing  shepherd  . . . 

and  Fate  would  have  started  him  anew,  had  not  merciful  death  vetoed 
this  new  resolve. 


